This book offers an in-depth examination of America's nuclear weapons policy since the end of the Cold War.

Nick Ritchie is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford. He is co-author of The Political Road to War in Iraq (Routledge 2006).

Introduction 1. The policy-making process. Actors involved in nuclear weapons policy. The annual nuclear policy budgetary process 2. American nuclear weapons policy at the end of the Cold War 3. Nuclear weapons policy under George H. W. Bush. Key decisions. Nuclear arms control. Nuclear forces. 'Rogue' states and nuclear planning. The nuclear weapons production complex. Conclusion 4. Nuclear weapons policy under Bill Clinton. Nuclear forces. Nuclear arms control. Russia, 'rogues' and nuclear planning. The nuclear weapons complex. Conclusion 5. Nuclear weapons policy under George W. Bush. Nuclear policy and the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review. Nuclear forces. Nuclear arms control. The nuclear weapons production complex. Conclusion 6. Post-Cold War trends in nuclear weapons policy 7. The influence of ideas on nuclear weapons policy. Three competing 'idea sets' Idea set 1: Managing the drawdown of Cold War nuclear forces Idea set 2: Responding to nuclear proliferation through progress in arms control and disarmament Idea set 3: Responding to nuclear proliferation by re-orienting Cold War nuclear weapons policy to a post-Cold War war-fighting policy Conclusion 8. Domestic politics and nuclear weapons policy. Policy inertia. Political disinterest in nuclear weapons policy. Military disinterest in nuclear weapons policy. Nuclear conservatism and neglect. Conclusion