In recent years the concept of identity has gained increased attention in studies on nuclear proliferation. However, while this renewed attention is fortunate, identity is mostly conceptualized in methodologically individualist and essentialist, monomorphic terms. By contrast, drawing on a processual-relational framework of analysis this paper argues that identities are continually constructed and enacted through states’ discursive and non-discursive (proliferation) practices. Analyses of three cases – Switzerland, Libya, and North Korea – will illustrate the benefits of a processual-relational understanding of “nuclear identities”.
