Seeking the Bomb: Strategies of Nuclear Proliferation. By Narang, Vipin . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. 400 p. $95.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.

Seeking the Bomb: Strategies of Nuclear Proliferation. By Narang Vipin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. 400 p. $95.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.

What strategies do states follow in developing nuclear weapons? Most research on the politics of nuclear weapons focuses on which states decide to seek the bomb and whether they get it. Vipin Narang’s new book instead offers a comprehensive analysis of how states seek the bomb. It provides a clear categorization of the strategies available to states, develops a theory of why states choose a particular strategy, and presents a mountain of qualitative evidence to support this theory. One could quarrel with elements of the categorization and theory, and especially with the interpretations of some of the cases. However, overall this book is a careful and thorough treatment of an important aspect of the politics of nuclear weapons that should be read by all scholars of the field.

Cleverly, Narang’s categorization of how states seek the bomb ignores the technological aspects—such as choosing either uranium or plutonium as the key component of a bomb—that are the focus of much expert commentary on nuclear weapons programs. Instead, the book zeroes in on variation in the political objective a state wishes to achieve with its program. States that wish to obtain the capability to build the bomb, but not the bomb—called “hedgers”—are thus different from those that want nuclear weapons. Both categories are further divided into three varieties. “Technical” hedgers see no immediate reason to have nuclear weapons but wish to be ready should one arise well into the future. “Insurance” hedgers rely on the protection of a powerful ally but worry that this might lapse in the near future. “Hard” hedgers feel nuclear weapons...