Introduction : unintended consequences in international politics -- Definitions and patterns of peaceful nuclear cooperation -- Economic statecraft and atoms for peace : a theory of peaceful nuclear assistance -- The historical record : a first cut -- Nuclear arms and influence : assisting India, Iran, and Libya -- The thirst for oil and other motives : nine puzzling cases of assistance -- Oil for peaceful nuclear assistance? -- Spreading temptation : why nuclear export strategies backfire -- Who builds bombs? : how peaceful nuclear cooperation facilitates the spread of nuclear weapons -- Have international institutions made the world safer? -- Conclusion : what peaceful nuclear assistance teaches us about international relations.