Books — Ankit Panda

The New Nuclear Age

At the Precipice of Armageddon

Polity · 2025 · 288 pages · ISBN 9781509557462

Nuclear weapons have returned to the center of international politics in ways unseen since the Cold War: Russia issues nuclear threats, China and North Korea expand their arsenals, and the arms control architecture that once contained these risks is coming apart. This book examines the forces driving that shift — strained relations among the major powers, the move from a bipolar standoff to a more complicated multipolar one, and a wave of new technologies, from artificial intelligence to novel delivery systems, that make stability harder to engineer. It argues that managing the resulting risks will take new thinking, and considerable urgency.

Polity Wiley Amazon Bookshop.org

Praise

Ankit Panda offers an essential guide to how we might escape catastrophe — as well as how we might not.
Jeffrey LewisMiddlebury Institute of International Studies

More praise (4)

In this absolute must-read, Panda masterfully illuminates the scope of this new nuclear age and what the United States can do to help manage and mitigate its enormous risks.
Vipin NarangMassachusetts Institute of Technology

A cogent exploration of the relevant issues, from the threat environment to the future potential of arms control and verification tools.
Rose GottemoellerFormer U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

What are practitioners and scholars to do? They can start by reading Ankit Panda's thoughtful and insightful The New Nuclear Age.
Linton BrooksFormer U.S. Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security

A cogent, careful look at a crucial challenge.
Kirkus Reviews

Kim Jong Un and the Bomb

Survival and Deterrence in North Korea

Hurst · 2020 · 392 pages · ISBN 9781787383074 · US edition: Oxford University Press

In 2017, North Korea test-flew a missile capable of reaching the United States, conducted the most powerful nuclear test anywhere in a quarter century, and declared its deterrent complete. This book traces how a small, poor country reached that point — the developmental history of its weapons programs, the strategy behind them, and the successive American attempts to stop or slow them. Kim's arsenal is not a bid for glory but the core of his regime's survival strategy, which is why disarmament has proven so elusive. The result is an account of a nuclear-armed North Korea that is not going anywhere, and what that means for the United States, South Korea, and the world.

Hurst Oxford University Press Amazon Bookshop.org

Praise

Panda, a noted international security analyst, discusses each step the North Korean regime took to build its stockpile, integrating his narrative with accounts of the diplomatic strategies successive American administrations adopted.
The New York Times

More praise (4)

Deeply informed. Explains as much as is publicly known about how Pyongyang developed nuclear weapons.
Foreign Affairs

It should be required reading for understanding the motivations and machinations behind Kim's destabilising mission.
Jean LeeFormer AP Pyongyang bureau chief

One of the best volumes available to provide deep insights into the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Worthy of study!
Gen. Vincent K. Brooks (Ret.)Commander, UN Command and U.S. Forces Korea, 2016–18

An extensive and exhaustive map of Pyongyang's journey to a nuclear deterrent that will stand the test of time.
NK News

For media and events

I'm more than happy to discuss my books with journalists, podcasts, and broadcast outlets, and to speak about it at universities, conferences, and private convenings. Review copies can be arranged through Polity. For interviews, please email me directly with your outlet, format, and deadline — I try to respond to deadline requests the same day.

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