COURIER-Nuclear Arms Control Regime at Risk-SUMMER 2000

Disarmament and Nonproliferation
Nuclear Arms Control Regime at Risk

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THE STANLEY FOUNDATION

Resources
Conference report(s):
"Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation: Choices for the World"
Acrobat PDF
Policy Bulletin only:
Acrobat PDF

Multilateral efforts are needed

Despite the Russian Duma's ratification of the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), there is a sense among many experts that the nuclear arms control regime is faltering and could collapse. The United States has received heavy criticism for its lukewarm support for arms control. The United States is blamed, among other things, for failure to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and for a desire to renegotiate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to pursue national missile defense.

These topics were recently discussed by experts at a Stanley Foundation event titled "Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation: Choices for the World." This was the foundation's thirty-first annual United Nations Issues Conference. Participants were profoundly troubled by the India-Pakistan nuclear explosions and the thinly veiled attempt of countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and Israel to acquire nuclear weapons.

The group examined a number of policy recommendations (see below). A more detailed report and a Policy Bulletin summarizing the discussion are available. These documents are an interpretation of the conference proceedings and were neither reviewed nor approved by the conference attendees.

—Keith Porter
JUN 2000

Policy Recommendations

Nations should use the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference, currently underway at the UN headquarters in New York, to strongly reaffirm their commitment to fulfilling all aspects of the NPT.
UN capacity to promote and support nuclear arms control and disarmament should be strengthened.
NGOs and the United Nations should collaborate to build a pragmatic political center that reinforces the goals of nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament.
The United States and Russia should ratify START II and work toward START III while also establishing a framework for multilateral negotiations.
NPT nations should pressure India, Pakistan, Cuba, and Israel to join the NPT and the CTBT.
Countries with nuclear weapons should reduce the salience of nuclear weapons in their national security doctrines.

These policy recommendations were supported by nearly all conference participants.

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