North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order: When Bad Behaviour Pays

North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons is puzzling, given the potential costs. Edward Howell's book "North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order" offers an original theoretical framework to explain this pursuit, focusing on North Korea's quest for status and strategic delinquency. He argues that North Korea has deployed behavior that breaks international norms to reap benefits, using rich empirical evidence from the 1990s to the present.

Format: Hardback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 18 May 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons, despite its global reputation as a violator of international norms, is intriguing. If nuclear weapons bring security, insecurity, and other costs to the state, how can we understand this pursuit and the resulting delinquent behavior? In North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order, Edward Howell provides an answer to this question. He focuses on North Korea's quest for status in the international system and develops the theoretical framework of strategic delinquency.

Featuring previously unpublished and new interviews with international negotiators with North Korea, as well as drawing upon new academic literature, Howell offers an original theoretical framework to apply to the North Korean case. The book spans a time period from the 1990s to the present day and uses unprecedentedly rich empirical evidence to make the overarching argument that North Korea has strategically deployed behavior that breaks international norms in order to reap benefits.

Through this analysis, Howell posits that North Korea has learned that despite its low status and opprobrium, bad behavior can pay off in the long run. This book provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics of North Korea's nuclear program and its interactions with the global nuclear order. It sheds light on the strategies and motivations behind North Korea's actions and challenges traditional understandings of international relations and security.

Overall, North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order is a thought-provoking and important contribution to the study of international relations and security. It offers a fresh perspective on North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and its impact on the global nuclear order.

Weight: 642g
Dimension: 164 x 241 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192888327