Table of Contents

Introduction
1: The Emergence of a Deterrence 'Habit of Mind'
2: The Chiefs of Staff, Nuclear Weapons and Global Strategy
3: From Atomic Weapons to Thermonuclear Weapons
4: Forging the 'Special' Anglo-American Nuclear Relationship
5: Polaris, Independence and Interdependence
6: The Polaris Improvement Programme and Chevaline
7: The Polaris Replacement Debate under Labour
8: The Adoption of Trident
9: NATO Modernization Plans, SDI and the End of the Cold War
10: Trident Replacement/Renewal: From 'New Labour' to the Coalition Government
Conclusion

About the Author

John Baylis is Emeritus Professor at Swansea University, where he was a Pro-Vice Chancellor. During the course of a distinguished career he has published a number of influential volumes, including Ambiguity and Deterrence: British Nuclear Strategy 1945-196 , Alternative Nuclear Futures: The Role of Nuclear Weapons in the Post-Cold-War Era (edited with R O'Neill), The Globalization of World Politics (edited with S Smith and P Owens,
fifth edition) and Strategy in the Contemporary World (edited with J Wirtz and C Gray, fourth edition). Kristan Stoddart is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Aberystwyth University. His publications include Losing an
Empire and Finding a Role?, Britain, the United States, NATO, and Nuclear Weapons 1964-1970, and The Sword and the Shield: Britain, the United States, NATO, and Nuclear Weapons 1970-1976.

Reviews

Anyone wishing to understand the United Kingdom's seven-decades-old relationship with nuclear weapons...should start with this excellent new book by leading British scholars John Baylis and Kristan Stoddart. The British Nuclear Experience provides a fascinating and highly accessible narrative of the somewhat peculiar story of both the day-to-day dynamics and the broader evolution of nuclear thinking and policy in the United Kingdom.
*Andrew Futter, H-Diplo*

Baylis and Stoddart, in their jointly authored book, provide a much needed update to Lawrence Freedmans classic Britain and nuclear weapons (Macmillan, 1980), filling in the most recent 35 years.
*Andrew Dorman, Kings College London, Conflict, security and defence*

Meticulously reconstructed from once top secret documents, this is a brilliantly analysed case-study of strategic culture, decision-making processes and bureaucratic politics. It should be on every IR or Public Policy reading list!
*Prof D.B.G Heuser, Department of Politics & IR, University of Reading*

Britain was one of the founders of the nuclear club and is still an active member. John Baylis and Kristan Stoddart provide a unique and comprehensive history of why and how the country retained its nuclear status, drawing attention to the importance of a "deterrence habit of mind".
*Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, FBA, Professor of War Studies, Kings College London*

Nuclear weapons policy-making runs like an irradiated thread throughout the history of Britain since 1940. There are no more skilful unearthers of that thread than John Baylis and Kristan Stoddart.
*Professor Lord Peter Hennessy FBA, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary, University of London*

Meticulously reconstructed from once top secret documents, this is a brilliantly analysed case-study of strategic culture, decision-making processes and bureaucratic politics. It should be on every IR or Public Policy reading list!
*Prof D.B.G Heuser, Department of Politics & IR, University of Reading*