Nuclear Stability. Do nuclear weapons contribute to increasing or decreasing stability?

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Basics and General, grade: C+, , language: English, abstract: Nuclear weapons enable a state to inflict a lot of damage at once to another state, if the other state does not have the ability to strike back. This is why the Nuclear Triad is so important, as it gives states a chance to launch nuclear weapons from land, sea and air. If you knew that your enemy had a chance to launch a nuclear missile back, would you still go ahead with the launch? No one in their right mind would attack a nuclear country with nuclear weapons, as it is just a disaster waiting to occur. Although there are some very obvious flaws with this theory, the benefits out weigh the risk. As nuclear weaponry becomes more common, it is just starting to prove over time how nuclear weapons really are a tool for peace and not weapons used for mass destruction.