Book Release: Elements of a Nuclear Disarmament Treaty
The editors and contributing authors of Elements of a Nuclear Disarmament Treaty will discuss the technical obstacles blocking the path to a world without nuclear weapons - and identify means of overcoming them. The panel discussion and Q&A will take place at 10:00 AM at the Stimson Center.
WHO:
Barry Blechman, Co-Editor, Stimson Center
Steve Fetter, Chapter Author and Former Dean of the Maryland School of Public Policy
Alex Bollfrass, Co-Editor, Stimson Center
Ward Wilson, Chapter Author
WHAT:
The brief presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. Refreshments will be served.
WHEN:
January 26, 10:00 AM
WHERE:
Stimson Center, 1111 19th St. NW, 12th Floor
Please RSVP to Meghan Warren at mwarren@stimson.org.
BACKGROUND:
Elements of a Nuclear Disarmament Treaty outlines the key components of a plan to eliminate nuclear weapons over a 25-35 year period, relying primarily on existing technologies and established diplomatic practices. Edited by Barry Blechman and Alex Bollfrass, the book is a comprehensive analysis of the technical measures required to achieve and sustain a world without nuclear weapons.
The book addresses questions of how a disarmament agreement would be governed, verified, monitored, and enforced, and how nations could be assured that nuclear materials utilized for civilian purposes would not be diverted for use in weapons. The book's authors discuss these difficult issues and propose solutions to them, some of which would require major changes in traditional state practices and therefore raise uncertainties. But the choice is not between a secure status quo and an uncertain disarmed world. On the contrary, it is between the current world of rising nuclear dangers and an international system that has become more secure by divesting itself of all nuclear weapons.
This book demonstrates how the transition from today's dangerous world to this more secure system can be navigated without creating new instabilities in world politics, dangers from cheaters or reckless governments, or opportunities for potential proliferators or terrorists. Most importantly, the chapters of this book illustrate that the problems cited by skeptics are not overwhelming. They constitute practical issues whose solutions are well within the means of governments, if they choose to address them.
