Publication

The article presents the findings of a study into why countries forward-deploy nuclear weapons. The study discussed analyzes all foreign nuclear deployments from 1945 to 2000, drawing on declassified documents. Statistical analysis of the data shows that countries deploy nuclear forces abroad firstly to bolster extended deterrence by protecting allies and other strategically important countries and secondly to increase the 'reach' of their arsenals. The power projection logic is however found to be less salient today than it was during the Cold War period.