The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Legal Challenges for Military Doctrines and Deterrence Policies

Jonathan L. Black-Branch

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781108493055
• eBook ISBN: 9781108598279
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: International Law
• Index: Law

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017) sets out to challenge deterrence policies and military defence doctrines, taking a humanitarian approach intended to disrupt the nuclear status quo. States with nuclear weapons oppose its very existence, neither participating in its development nor adopting its final text. Civil society groups seem determined, however, to stigmatize and delegitimize nuclear weapons towards their abolition. This book analyzes how the Treaty influences the international security architecture, examining legal, institutional and diplomatic implications of the Treaty and exploring its real and potential impact for both states acceding to the Treaty and those opposing it. It concludes with practical recommendations for international lawyers and policymakers regarding non-proliferation and disarmament matters, ultimately noting that nuclear weapons threaten peace, and everyone should have the right to nuclear peace and freedom from nuclear fear.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Changing the Status Quo in Nuclear Arms Control Law: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2017
• 2 Adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2017: A New Dawn, a New Deal, a New Direction in Nuclear Disarmament Law?
• 3 Humanitarian Nuclear Disarmament: Challenging the Status Quo through New Approaches to Legal Process, Purpose and Provisions
• 4 Legal Congruence with Existing Treaty Obligations: Toward Complementary or Competing Interests?
• 5 Customary International Law, Opinio Juris and State Practice Regarding the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2017: Toward Universality?
• 6 Treaty Safeguards, Verification and Implementation: A Simple-Ban Approach and a Need for Oversight
• 7 Nuclear Deterrence Policies and the Prohibition Treaty: Disarmament Considerations
• 8 Nuclear Defense Doctrines: Disarmament and Emerging Humanitarian Concerns
• 9 Competition, Fragmentation and Polarization: A Bifurcated International Legal Infrastructure Regarding the Nuclear Architecture and Regulation?
• 10 Stigmatization-Action and Changing Global Perceptions to Delegitimize and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
• 11 Toward Neo-Universalism: Toward a New Reality in International Law?
• 12 Obligations Erga Omnes: The Missing Link for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament Compliance
• 13 The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons within the Nuclear Nonproliferation and Security Architecture in International Law: From Grand Bargain to Grand Challenges with the Right to Nuclear Peace and Freedom from Nuclear Fear: Summaries and Conclusions
• Index