How has China shaped global nuclear order? This book offers an empirically rich study of Chinese nuclear weapons behaviour and the impact of this behaviour on global nuclear politics since 1949.

Nicola Horsburgh is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow based at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University. She is also affiliated to the Asian Studies Centre at St. Antony's College. Her BA project 'China and Nuclear Responsibility in the Global Nuclear Order' explores what it means to be a responsible nuclear armed state, with a special emphasis on China. Nicola holds a DPhil in International Relations and an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies (Oxon), an MSc in International Relations (LSE), and a BScEcon (Hons) in International Politics and Strategic Studies (Aberystwyth).

• Introduction: Global nuclear order in conceptual and historical perspective


• 1: Maoist China and the advent of the nuclear age, 1949-64


• 2: China's nuclearisation and the emergence of nuclear order, 1964-76


• 3: China 'joins to world' and engages with global nuclear order, 1976-89


• 4: China becomes a fully-fledged member of the nuclear order, 1990-99


• 5: Rising China and a weakened global nuclear order in the 2000s


• Conclusion: From outsider to valued member: Chinese contributions to nuclear ordering