Each of the country assessments, to be published ad seriatum, considers the security conditions that need to be met before the government in question would participate in a multilateral disarmament process. Next in the series is another pair of countries, the emerging world powers, China and India. Later volumes will examine the two newest nuclear aspirants—North Korea and Iran; the two nuclear superpowers, Russia and the United States; Pakistan and Israel, both of which view their nuclear weapons as vital to offset a strategic adversary’s greater size and conventional capability; and countries with advanced civilian nuclear capabilities that could be future weapons states, such as Brazil, Japan, and Turkey.

Later in the year, a set of papers assessing such technical issues as verification, warhead dismantling, and governance of a disarmament treaty regime, will be published in a single volume, complementing this series of country assessments.

This new series will make an important contribution to the new and renewed debate about how to rid the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons. This enduring strategic issue has been a central concern of the Stimson Center since its founding twenty years ago. I hope that this new publication will provide insights and pragmatic ideas to facilitate wise policymaking, in keeping with Stimson tradition.