Nuclear Weapon-free World: Reconciling Moral and Security Imperatives

The arms control approach of more than six decades to deal with the nuclear peril lies in shambles. Nuclear weapons remain in huge numbers, and the dire consequences of their use remain undiminished, with portents of a new era of deadlier weapons and a new spiral of arms race. Hence a detailed and deeper examination of all issues connected with nuclear weapons is called for. Key to this is centrality of nuclear disarmament and the overriding international commitment to abolish nuclear weapons and the premise that nuclear weapons are the instrument of mass annihilation and cannot be used as weapons of war. This basic premise was lost sight of in the political expediency and compulsions of the Cold War and the subsequent play of geopolitics. There is a need to return to this basic premise, which should not be subordinated to political management of a renewed nuclear arms race. In keeping with these basics the pathways to the ultimate goal of abolition have been delineated.