Revisiting Nuclear Non-Use

Abstract

Regarding the empirical analysis, it bears repeating that this book is not inquiring into the subject matter in the same way an explanatory analysis would conventionally do. Neither is a causal process postulated upfront nor are empirical sources confronted with one or more testable hypotheses. Consequently, the following ‘case’ selection might appear unconventional or counterintuitive as well. But if the goal is to understand nuclear non-use as a contingent phenomenon that hinges on agency at the level of decision-makers, and not to ‘prove’ the validity or superiority of an explanatory concept across so and so many cases, different source selection criteria apply. The pivotal question for beginning the empirical research process was thus what material is suitable and available.