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This paper examines the political and military implications of
horizontal and vertical nuclear proliferation in the international system. A survey of contemporary evidence reveals that there are many reasons
why nation-states aspire to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities. Among these motives, we encounter survival, deterrence, prestige and political
domination, security and regional hegemony, freedom of action, and ultimately superpower status. It is true that these weapons of mass
destruction have been used only once in combat (i.e., by the Americans against Japan in 1945), but we argue that since then the nuclear powers
have frequently resorted to the threat of the use of atomic bombs for various political ends, ranging from deterrence and compliance to
blackmail. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that the importance of worldwide nuclear arms control and disarmament cannot
be overestimated.