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430 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. [i] (1977)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0430 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE The first nuclear explosion, in July 1945, prompted Dr. Robert Oppen- heimer to recall the lines from the Bhagavad Gita, I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds!1 Since that date, the face of Death has been seen on many more occasions, both in the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and in the hundreds of tests of nuclear weapons conducted by the United States and other countries. So far, however, the world has not been shattered; in fact, nuclear weapons have not been used in any of the conflicts of the past 30 years. This fortunate outcome has been due in part to luck, in part to the fact that the five nuclear-armed powers (the United States, USSR, Britain, France, and China) have learned how to adapt their behavior to the requirements of the atomic age. But this age is one of rapid change, not least in the area of nuclear technology. Recent developments make it easier for states to produce nuclear weapons, and the incentives to do so remain high. Thus we may have, in the not-too-distant future, a world of 10, 20, or 30 nuclear powers, with a consequent increase in the complexity of interstate relations and in the likelihood that these may lead to nuclear war. This issue of the ANNALS addresses itself to three aspects of nuclear proliferation: the prospect that new nuclear powers will come on the scene, the problems that their arrival may create, and ways of coping with those problems. To put the matter in these words implies that proliferation is undesirable-as I, for one, believe. This belief neither justifies the existence of five nuclear powers nor precludes acceptance of a sixth-or a seventh; rather, it reflects a concern about the potential consequences for peace and security of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Whether this concern is well-founded, you may judge for yourself as you read further. However, before you turn to substantive matters, I should like to thank the Center for Arms Control and International Security Studies of the University of Pittsburgh for its support of this endeavor, and most notably for its sponsorship of a workshop wherein authors (and critics) could discuss nuclear proliferation. In this way, good inputs were made even better. JOSEPH I. COFFEY 1. Sri Krishna, The Bhagavad Gita.

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