Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 71, June - July 2003

Editor's Introduction

Two of the year's major multilateral arms control events form the focus of this issue of Disarmament Diplomacy, together with extensive news coverage dominated by the geostrategic developments that formed the 'dark backdrop' to both meetings: war in Iraq, North Korea's self-declared withdrawal from the treaty, a rapidly-deepening crisis of confidence over Iran's nuclear programme, and alarm over three, interlocking trends in US national security strategy - a mounting impatience with 'traditional' non-proliferation controls and diplomatic approaches, accompanied by a growing emphasis on pre-emptive military attack against WMD threats and an enthusiastic dedication to modernising and diversifying the American nuclear arsenal.

Rebecca Johnson assesses the deliberations of the 2003 Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) of states parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as "a diplomatic, but not necessarily a political success". Perceiving an underlying shift of direction in the statements and mood of the PrepCom, Johnson cautions that the meeting "may represent a 'return-to-the-past' turning point for the non-proliferation regime, echoing the Cold War emphasis on preventing 'undesirables' from acquiring nuclear weapons, while nuclear disarmament is consigned once again to the periphery".

Alexander Kelle, Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University, reports from The Hague on the First Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Despite a daunting array of difficulties facing states parties, Kelle regards the "forward-looking character" of the concluding Review Document as a necessary, if not sufficient, step towards strengthening the regime: "Of the 134 paragraphs, more than 50 spell out tasks to improve the future implementation of the Convention". Taken together, the tasks establish "a minimum standard against which implementation will have to be judged. Now it is up to...states parties to follow-up effectively and without undue delay".

News Review gives extensive space to comment pondering, from diverse perspectives, the true lessons for global non-proliferation and disarmament efforts of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Indeed, the shadow of that conflict - deepened by the bitter divisions of the pre-war debate and growing controversy over US/UK intelligence assessments of the Iraqi WMD-threat - falls heavily across the remainder of the Review, colouring in particular media coverage of, and political responses to, the burgeoning non-proliferation crises in North Korea and Iran.

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