IS409 Major Assignment
- Group 6
- Article to read Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons__ Three Models in Search of a Bomb by Scott D. Sagan (1995)
- Parts
- Intro & Conclusion Moung Michael
- Security Model Sim Sovachana
- Domestic Politics Model Sok Udom
- Norms Model Chea Resan
- Presentation happens on 2022-05-02
Practical Presentation
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The application of the theories to one specific country or case to prove it actually is practical.
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Presentation
- Apply the theory to relevant cases
- Possessing nuclear weapons symbol of modernity
- Are the different theories compatible with one another?
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Structure
- Introduction: (Maikheur)
- Historical evolution of Iran’s seek for nuclear weapons
- Iran is seeking nuclear weapons: Iran Nuclear Deal
- Security threats from Israel’s nuclear weapons (Resan)
- Aquisition of nuclear weapons is the deterrence strategy from conventional and existential threats by Iraq, Israel, and the US
- Iraq: known to be seeking nuclear, chemical, biological WMDs
- Fear turned real in Iran-Iraq war, when Iraqi Kurds used chemical weapons against Iranian troops
- The Arab world supported Iraq -> Iran thinking it has to rely on its own resources or power
- Irael: regional competitor, backed by US (enemy) to balance power in Middle East
- United States: have bad relations due to
- Difference in ideology
- Iran’s nuclear ambitions
- US is the reason Iran’s nuclear ambitions failed
- Since 2002: US’s attempts to constrain Iran’s nuclear weapons program through diplomatic agreements, economic sanctions, and military deployment
- Withdrawal from Iran’s Nuclear Deal (Trump), with policy of ’Maximum Pressure’ to get better negotiation terms with Iran
- Iran demonstrated ability to harm global commerce and US’s interests and raise concerns of nuclear activities
- US’s strategy only created more tension and hostility between the two nations, while Iran maintained political and territorial integrity as well as prosper a little.
- It’s this identity of being self-sustaining and not needing external help that is part of the normative explanation of Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well, which will be discussed later on.
- Iraq: known to be seeking nuclear, chemical, biological WMDs
- Aquisition of nuclear weapons is the deterrence strategy from conventional and existential threats by Iraq, Israel, and the US
- Domestic political interests (Sovachana)
- National Prestige & identity
- Conclusion: summarize (Maikheur)
- Introduction: (Maikheur)
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Deadline: 2022-06-20
Writing
- One of the most important concerns which led to the Iran seeking nuclear weapons is the fear for its national security.
- Iran believes itself to be surrounded by adversaries at all directions; Iraq, Israel, and the United States allied.
- For Iraq, Iran had known its neighbour to be wielding or seeking chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons.
- Those fear became real in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war,
- in which Iraqi Kurds had used chemical weapons against Iranian troops.
- In this specific situation, the rest of the Arab world had supported Iraq.
- Therefore, this had turned Iran into thinking it has no one else to rely on but its own resources and power to protect its national security against all these enemies next door.
- Another one of its neighbors Israel offers up the same threat.
- Moreover, The United States is a close ally with Israel,
- who the superpower is building up to become a regional power it could influence in the Middle-East.
- Although the country denies it officially, Israel is believed to possess up to hundreds of nuclear warheads
- which further the security and existential threats to Iran as a neighbour.
- Moreover, The United States is a close ally with Israel,
- The United States-Iran relations has been sour for decades due to differences in ideology, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and the US’s attempts to hinder them.
- Next Slide
- The US is the reason Iran’s nuclear ambitions failed.
- Since 2002, the US’s attempts to constrain Iran’s nuclear weapons program through diplomatic agreements, economic sanctions, and military deployment.
- The United States withdrawn from the Iran’s Nuclear Deal during the Trump administration
- with policy of ’Maximum Pressure’ to get better negotiation terms from Iran.
- However, this backfired since Iran demonstrated the ability to harm global commerce and US’s interests and raise concerns of nuclear activities at the same time.
- Therefore, US’s strategy only created more tension and hostility between the two nations,
- while Iran maintained political and territorial integrity and even prospered to an extent.
- It’s this identity of being self-sustaining and not needing external help that is part of the normative explanation of Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well,
- which will be discussed later on.