Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 63, March - April 2002

Editor's Introduction

The turbulent acceleration of developments reshaping the international security environment in the wake of September 11 is exerting a strong influence on efforts to promote global disarmament and non-proliferation. Many states and analysts worry that the Bush administration, in the pursuit of an effective campaign against the threats to its national security, is turning its back on large parts of the arms control regime in a manner which may actually increase the dangers faced by all states in an age of military and political terror. In April this year, the 187 members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will begin preparations for the 2005 Review Conference. In our editorial, Rebecca Johnson lays emphasis on the substantive rather than procedural questions, arguing that "civil society has to work harder outside diplomacy in order to create the conditions for diplomacy to work".

A major danger in coming years is a drift towards the weaponisation of space. In a concise summary of the issues at stake, Ambassador Thomas Graham, President Clinton's Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament from 1994-97, argues that "the creation of a space regime, under which the international community enshrines space as a peaceful environment, is the only thoroughgoing alternative to a weaponised space free-for-all". From the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, Mark Smith assesses the possible contribution, and potential pitfalls, of an International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation drawn up the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) last year. From the University of New Mexico, Gaurav Rajen explores the potential for increasing nuclear transparency between India and Pakistan.

News Review focusses on the struggle by Russia and the US to define common ground on nuclear arms reductions following Washington's decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and on the furore caused by President Bush's description of an "axis of evil" - consisting of at least three states, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea - portrayed as "arming to threaten the peace of the world". The Review also includes detailed coverage of developments in South Asia, difficult US-China discussions on non-proliferation, US comment on biological arms control, progress in implementing the Ottawa Convention, and an important landmark in efforts to outlaw child soldiers.