Looking ahead: Nuclear Sprinters, Hedgers, Sheltered Pursuers, and Hiders

Hi again!

Here's another article that will be food for thought for you as we head into the last 2 weeks before conference. This article from MIT News talks about a new book by political science Vipin Narang called "Seeking the Bomb" adds some more nuance to the categories we put countries in when thinking about nuclear weapons. Mainly, we think about a binary of nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons. However, Narang classifies 4 categories of states in terms of the nuclear powers: sprinters, hedgers, sheltered pursuers, and hiders.

"Sprinters" are what we normally think of when we think about nuclear powers: big countries such as the U.S., France, etc. who independently develop nuclear weapons. "Hedgers" have the ability to develop nuclear weapons but don't because of geopolitical reasons or domestic political reasons. For example, South Korea is an American ally that has the potential to nuclearize but does not because of its situation with North Korea and its relationship with the U.S./its nuclear umbrella. Countries using "sheltered pursuit" use alliances to develop nuclear bombs, such as North Korea receiving support from China to develop their nuclear weapons. Finally, "hiders" are nations that want nuclear weapons but can't get help from a superpower nation, such as Syria, and South Africa when it briefly developed nuclear weapons in the 1980s before dismantling them.

Narang argues that in the coming decades, totally getting rid of nuclear weapons seems unrealistic. Rather, the global nuclear landscape will be heavily influenced by hedgers and hiders (many of which may be represented in this committee at BMUN).

With the time we have left before conference, try to go beyond the binary of nuclear/non-nuclear weapons states and think about how your solutions can account for the variety of positions that nations are approaching nuclear weapons with. Does your country fall into one of the categories or have an opinion about them? Let us know what you think and if you have any questions, and see you in 2 weeks!