NPT regime change: Has the good become the enemy of the best?
Date
2009
Authors
Thakur, Ramesh
Journal Title
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Publisher
United Nations University Press
Abstract
Since the end of the Cold War, the risk of total nuclear war between
the major powers has diminished. Yet the prospect of nuclear weapons
being used is more plausible. There were two great pillars of the normative
edifice for containing the nuclear horror: the doctrines of strategic
deterrence, which prevented their use among those who had nuclear
weapons; and the non-proliferation regime, centered on the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which both outlawed their spread to
others and imposed a legal obligation on the nuclear weapons states
(NWS) to eliminate their own nuclear arsenals through negotiations –
their only explicit multilateral disarmament commitment. The NPT was
signed in 1968 and came into force in 1970 as the centerpiece of the
global non-proliferation regime that codified the international political
norm of non-nuclear-weapons status.1 It tries to curb proliferation by a
mix of incentives and disincentives. In return for intrusive end-use control
over imported nuclear and nuclear-related technology and material,
non-NWS were granted access to nuclear technology, components, and
material on a most-favored-nation basis.
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Book chapter
Book Title
The United Nations and Nuclear Orders
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Restricted until
2037-12-31
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