Book excerpt: This edited volume offers a systematic account of the process of nuclear proliferation and its consequences, using quantitative research methods. The real-world importance of nuclear weapons has led to the production of a voluminous scholarly literature on nuclear proliferation. Missing from this debate is an analysis of how states acquire nuclear weapons and a systematic empirical examination of how nuclear weapons may affect the security and the diplomacy of their possessors. The chapters in this book address these twin deficits ...