Abstract
With the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, a wind of hope blew across the world. Nuclear proliferation was thought to be a thing of the past, and the building of a peaceful world was believed to be possible. Unfortunately, this season of optimism was short-lived, and soon realised that nuclear proliferation was still a burning current issue. As the report on Proliferation from the Economist highlights, the post Cold War world was different, and the risk that someone might plant a bomb in retaliation is probably much greater today than it was in 1962. During the Cold War, the superpower system created a balance of power, which prevented smaller actors from acting without the superpowers agreement, as was the case when France and Great Britain had to withdraw from their positions in the fight for the Suez Canal, on an American order. A superpower was deterred from acting as he knew his strength evened out with his rival's. It has to be said that nuclear proliferation is less active nowadays than it used to be during the Cold War, except for now, it affects more countries. The number of nuclear weapons has been dramatically reduced. Of the official five, only China is adding to its nuclear force. In the early 90s, the United States and Russia owned about 10,000 warheads each whereas in 2006, these numbers reduced to 5,235 in the US and 3,503 in Russia, and prospective figures for 2012 indicate around 2000 warheads each. Yet, if the number of nuclear weapons has plummeted, the technology has been enhanced. For instance, the US has been developing a nuclear bunker buster and is currently working on a 'reliable replacement warhead', robust and easy to maintain.
