Iran’s Quest for Nuclear Power and Weapons
Tripathi, Sudhanshu. (2006) India Quarterly 62, no. 2
This article illustrates the contrasting perspectives of US and Iran on Iran’s possible acquisition of nuclear power status, highlighting how the idea of security is both reinforced and challenged by this possibility, depending on the state’s perspective we choose to take into account. It also provides insight on the peaceful nature of nuclear use in Iran, which ironically clashes with the US’ framing of a “nuclear Iran” as a generalised threat. The latter account, as Tripathi argues, is not only inconsistent with US foreign policy, as Western nuclear powers have never been opposed, but it also ignores and underestimates the benefits that other states, such as China, might enjoy if Iran were to become a nuclear power. This article is enlightening as it demonstrates how the concept of security is not universally understood in the same way, but rather it acquires specific underpinnings depending on cultural and political backgrounds. Therefore, one has to be critical of an allegedly universal understanding of peace, as it might be informed by a bias, rather than objectivity.
URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/45073290