The collection of essays published in Learning From Each Other is part of a broader project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation called the Nuclear Boundaries Initiative. The Nuclear Boundaries Initiative has aimed to identify areas of U.S. and international nuclear policy and practice where equities overlap and yet are typically treated as separate, distinct policy issues. Although North Korea and Iran were once classified as “rogue states” posing the threat of nuclear proliferation, they have diverged in their paths in the last twenty years. Should they be treated as proliferating states using the same policy objectives, tools and approaches? Or should they be treated as distinctly separate problems? There are costs and benefits to these different approaches.
This set of essays is not meant to be definitive but offers a range of views on answering some of these questions. Its focus is not on whether the two states are mimicking each other or even cooperating in the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. The hope is that future U.S. policies can be crafted with more sensitivity to how they are perceived by the targets of their attention.
The full report can be found here.