Current Research

Nuclear Disarmament, Deterrence and the NPT: Bridge-building

Nuclear Disarmament, Deterrence and the NPT: Bridge-building

16/03/2017

In recent years, the debate on nuclear weapons has been dominated by differences over both the pace of disarmament and how to galvanise it. A humanitarian focus on the risks and consequences of a nuclear conflict or an accidental detonation has had the effect of drawing international attention to the necessity for taking nuclear disarmament forward. The means for doing so, however, are highly disputed especially amongst the parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This has accentuated the divide between States that do not possess nuclear armaments on the one hand, and, on the other, those that do as well as those in alliances with nuclear weapon States that rely on the perceived deterrent effect of nuclear weapons for their security.

UNIDIR, in partnership with the Hiroshima Prefecture, has begun a project whose goal is to examine ways in which nuclear weapon States and non-nuclear weapon States might cooperatively best move forward toward a world without nuclear weapons. Initial attention will be placed on the reasons behind the divergence of approaches and their consequences for ensuring non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and achieving the eventual elimination of those arms.