Arms Control Without Arms Control

2. The use of nuclear weapons as a potential war crime

The definitive guide to the history of nuclear arms control by a wise eavesdropper and masterful storyteller, Michael Krepon. The greatest unacknowledged diplomatic achievement of the Cold War was the absence of mushroom clouds. Deterrence alone was too dangerous to succeed; it needed arms control to prevent nuclear warfare. So, U.S. and Soviet leaders ventured into the unknown to devise guardrails for nuclear arms control and to treat the Bomb differently than other weapons. Against the odds, they succeeded. Nuclear weapons have not been used in warfare for three quarters of a century. This book is the first in-depth history of how the nuclear peace was won by complementing deterrence with reassurance, and then jeopardized by discarding arms control after the Cold War ended. Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace tells a remarkable story of high-wire acts of diplomacy, close calls, dogged persistence, and extraordinary success. Michael Krepon brings to life the pitched battles between arms controllers and advocates of nuclear deterrence, the ironic twists and unexpected outcomes from Truman to Trump. What began with a ban on atmospheric testing and a nonproliferation treaty reached its apogee with treaties that mandated deep cuts and corralled "loose nukes" after the Soviet Union imploded. After the Cold War ended, much of this diplomatic accomplishment was cast aside in favor of freedom of action. The nuclear peace is now imperiled by no less than four nuclear-armed rivalries. Arms control needs to be revived and reimagined for Russia and China to prevent nuclear warfare. New guardrails have to be erected. Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace is an engaging account of how the practice of arms control was built from scratch, how it was torn down, and how it can be rebuilt.

This volume features a selection of the best scholarship on international law as it is relevant to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The essays consider the nonproliferation legal regime as a normative system and offer a more discrete consideration of international law in each weapons of mass destruction technology area. The role, authority and track record of the UN Security Council in this area are also evaluated.

The essential history of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) during the Nixon Administration How did Richard Nixon, a president so determined to compete for strategic nuclear advantage over the Soviet Union, become one of the most successful arms controllers of the Cold War? Drawing on newly opened Cold War archives, John D. Maurer argues that a central purpose of arms control talks for American leaders was to channel nuclear competition toward areas of American advantage and not just international cooperation. While previous accounts of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) have emphasized American cooperative motives, Maurer highlights how Nixon, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird shaped negotiations, balancing their own competitive interests with proponents of cooperation while still providing a coherent rationale to Congress. Within the arms control agreements, American leaders intended to continue deploying new weapons, and the arms control restrictions, as negotiated, allowed the United States to sustain its global power, contain communism, and ultimately prevail in the Cold War.

`A unique and indispensible work that serves both as a basic introduction to the disarmament scene and a reference book for experts′ - Disarmament Times `This compendium of the history and achievements of arms control and disarmament efforts is unique in its kind and is likely to remain so. This for three reasons: first, because of its unparalleled comprehensiveness; second, because of the outstanding quality of its presentation, and, third, because of its author, Jozef Goldblat, one of the world′s leading experts in the field. This triad makes the updated Second Edition of Arms Control: The New Guide to Negotiations and Agreements a must for all concerned with international security in general and arms control in particular′ - Curt Gasteyger, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva `The thesaurus of arms regulation and disarmament...a precious tool for negotiators and treaty makers′ - Ambassador V Petrovsky, Former Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament `Being the most comprehensive and authoritative compilation and analysis of arms control agreements available, this is an indispensable reference volume for students and practitioners of arms control and international security. The author has spent a lifetime in the study and practice of international security affairs: where international law and arms control agreements are concerned, there is no one better qualified than him′ - Sverre Lodgaard, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo The revised and updated edition of Arms Control: The New Guide to Negotiations and Agreements contains the most authoritative and comprehensive survey ever published of the documents related to arms control. All major agreements reached since the second half of the nineteenth century through to mid-2002 are critically analysed and assessed. The assessment is made in the light of the international security environment, the developments in the field of weapon technology, the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons proliferation, and the efforts to strengthen the humanitarian law of armed conflict. The accompanying CD-ROM reproduces full text and carefully selected excerpts of treaties, conventions, common understandings, statutes, charters, binding decisions of international bodies, final acts of international conferences, exchanges of letters and diplomatic notes. Multilateral agreements are followed by a list of parties. Enriched with new maps, tables and figures, as well as an expanded glossary and bibliography, the book will remain the definitive resource for students of international relations, journalists, diplomats and military strategists. Jozef Goldblat, the author, is Vice-President of the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI), Resident Senior Fellow of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and Associate Editor of Security Dialogue, published by SAGE for the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). He has studied the problems of arms control since the 1950s and has been involved in arms control negotiations. From 1969 to 1989 he directed the arms control and disarmament programme of studies at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). He has lectured at various universities and has written reports, articles and books on the arms race and disarmament. His latest publications include The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime: Assessment and Prospects, The Hague Academy of International Law, 1997, and Nuclear Disarmament: Obstacles to Banishing the Bomb, I. B. Tauris, 2000.

This book strives to take stock of current achievements and existing challenges in nuclear verification, identify the available information and gaps that can act as drivers for exploring new approaches to verification strategies and technologies. With the practical application of the systems concept to nuclear disarmament scenarios and other, non-nuclear verification fields, it investigates, where greater transparency and confidence could be achieved in pursuit of new national or international nonproliferation and arms reduction efforts. A final discussion looks at how, in the absence of formal government-to-government negotiations, experts can take practical steps to advance the technical development of these concepts.

The United States and the Soviet Union have been negotiating nuclear arms control agreements for over twenty years, yet radical differences remain in the two sides' concept of, and approaches to, strategic stability and arms control. This book compares and contrasts those approaches, using START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) as a case study. Throughout two decades of negotiation, U.S. policy has been directed toward dialogue that would encourage convergence of American and Soviet thought on nuclear deterrence. In Kartchner's view, that hope is belied not only by continuing asymmetries in the development and deployment of their strategic nuclear arsenals, but by differing U.S. and Soviet negotiating positions. The Reagan administration viewed START as a means of repudiating SALT II, restoring a measure of balance in the U.S.-Soviet strategic competition, and as a way of closing the so-called window of vulnerability. In contrast, Kartchner analyzes the Soviets' differing views of nuclear balance, emphasizing their satisfaction with SALT II and a strategic equilibrium shaped by a decade of bilateral arms control. Kartchner offers a detailed exposition of the major negotiating issues in START, contrasting concerns of U.S. and Soviet negotiators. Not surprisingly, each side's agenda was dominated by weapon systems that figure prominently in the other's development program. The author concludes by summarizing and comparing American and Soviet quests for stability and drawing up an assessment of U.S. efforts in both SALT and START to use arms control negotiations as a kind of classroom for instructing Soviet officials in American notions of "stabilizing" versus "destabilizing" weapon technology and America's own ethnocentric view of stability. START will profoundly affect the acquisition, operation, maintenance, and cost of U.S. strategic nuclear forces well into the next century. The history and analysis presented here will provide an essential source to policymakers and students of military-political relations for much-needed further study of this treaty's implications.

This facsimile reprint of the 1989 edition is, according to Library Journal, ..".a wonderfully concise and comprehensive resource on a very important topic. In 268 detailed entries, the authors provide a wealth of information on such topics as the arms race, conventional and nuclear weapons, nuclear strategy, and disarmament. The entries are cross-referenced, and there is an index. Of great value to general readers as well as specialists."