The construction of "hegemony" in selected nuclear nonproliferation "regime" literature

Abstract

This thesis analyses several articles by Professor Joseph Nye Jr. and one by doctoral candidate Roger Smith. Those articles analyse international and domestic nuclear arms control and disarmament policies within the framework of 'regime theory'. The thesis uses a methodology derived eclectically from various postmodern and postructural analysts, and in particular adapts ideas from Derrida and Foucault. The thesis argues that Nye and Smith's work exemplify western 'security' discourse which has a narrative structure that is super-power centric, and in particular U.S.- centric, as is now common in mainstream international relations journals. They tend to reproduce a particular discursive formation: that of a constructed U.S. dominance, or hegemony, regarding the formation (Nye), boundaries and elements (Nye and Smith), and maintenance (Nye and Smith) of the nuclear nonproliferation 'regime' (hereafter NNPR). The role of 'learning' within regime theory is also 'critically' reviewed. The thesis challenges this discourse by identifying the hierarchical oppositions on which it relies, the rhetorical devices which ground the argument, and the contradictions within the texts which undermine their conclusions. The meanings attributed to terms and their reflection of ideological and conceptual values are also examined to show how they 'ground' the text to a coherent meaning or conceptual hierarchy. The sub-thesis concludes with a brief prospective assessment of the regime. It suggests that although Nye's and Smith's liberal 'regime' theory is correct in identifying the potential feedback effect of 'regimes' on domestic state politics and international social movements, these dynamics do not yet occupy their proper place in their work. The extent to which current developments within the regime accord with theoretical expectations is also examined and doubts are raised about the role and effect of learning and of hegemonic decline.