The nuclear hermit

RORY MEDCALF, director of International Security at the Lowy Institute argues that New Delhi's nuclear-weapons posture characterized by a minimum credible nuclear deterrent, no-first use policy could be a model to emulate for other states. In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, "India's nuclear example", he calls for closer U.S.-India strategic ties to ensure India's strategic arsenal remained small and the world could not afford to leave New Delhi out of the non-proliferation and nuclear security tent.

Dial 311 for deterrence

James Wood Forsyth Jr, Col B. Chance Saltzman, and Gary Schaub Jr discuss the concept of deterrence in international political relations and the diminishing returns with nuclear weapons and state that a small, secure nuclear force had the effect of 'sanctuarizing' the states that possess them. In an article for the Strategic Studies Quarterly, "Remembrance of Things Past The Enduring Value of Nuclear Weapons", they argue that the United States could have nuclear security with a small force of only 311 nuclear weapons in their force structure while continuing to maintain stable deterrence irrespective of the behavior of competitors such as Russia or China. They also express skepticism over the practicality of a nuclear zero arguing that nuclear weapons socialize statesmen to the dangers of adventurism and constrained their behavior resulting in a relationship tempered by caution despite the rhetoric of the leaders.