Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Once dismissed as ineffectual, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has in the past twenty years emerged as a powerful international organization. Member states allow the IAEA to render judgment on matters vital to peace and security while nations around the globe comply with its rules and commands on proliferation, safety, and a range of other issues.
Robert L. Brown details the IAEA's role in facilitating both control of nuclear weapons and the safe exploitation of nuclear power. As he shows, the IAEA has acquired a surprising amount of power as states, for political and technological reasons, turn to it to supply policy cooperation and to act as an agent for their security and safety. The agency's success in gaining and holding authority rests in part on its ability to apply politically neutral expertise that produces beneficial policy outcomes. But Brown also delves into the puzzle of how an agency created by states to aid cooperation has acquired power over them.
Synopsis
Robert L. Brown has written both a history of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and an analysis of how it has transformed from a weak agent of multilateral cooperation into a strong international nuclear authority over the past two decades. Today, it is one of the most powerful international organizations of any kind, with the ability to inspect and judge member states' nuclear programs and to issue rules and commands regarding nuclear issues. The IAEA also plays an important role in counterproliferation enforcement. Brown argues that the IAEA has been able to acquire power over states on nuclear issues because states have realized that they need, for both political and technological reasons, the IAEA to supply nuclear policy cooperation and to be an agent for nuclear safety and security. The IAEA is in the news on an almost weekly basis, and this book will provide the most in depth and up-to-date overview of the organization. The book will also explain the puzzle of why states would collectively create an agent to help them cooperate, only to see that agent acquire power over them.