Not Your Father’s Arms Control: Challenges for Stabilizing Military Confrontation in Europe Background The old arms control framework between Russia and the West does not work any more. The erosion of central arms control treaties has led to new tensions between NATO and Moscow. A new approach aimed at reducing tensions in Europe must take into account that central geopolitical coordinates have changed, and that new weapon technologies are rendering the old arms control paradigms obsolete. By Igor Istomin
U.S. Military Advantages and the Future of Nuclear Arms Control The United States and Russia are implementing the New START Treaty, which requires that each side reduce to 1550 deployed strategic warheads on 700 deployed strategic missiles and bombers by 2018. The Obama administration would like to go further. Doing so, however, will require that Washington address several related issues, first and foremost missile defense. By Steven Pifer
How Much Is Enough? Nuclear Expansions in South Asia For three years, Pakistan has single-handedly – and successfully – blocked the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva from discussing an effort that would put a cap on fissile materials. By Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy
Assessing the Need to Regulate U.S. Conventional Prompt Global Strike Systems The United States intent to deploy a new Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS). This short paper assesses the chief challenges the United States faces in allaying Russian concerns about about CPGS deployments. By Dennis M. Gormley
Engaging North Korea and promoting disarmament and non-proliferation in Northeast Asia The US and its allies have engaged in efforts to stop North Korean nuclear program at least three times, every time ending up with a sense of betrayal. Now, it has become clear that North Korea did not really have the intention to abandon its nuclear program. By Nobuyasu Abe
WMDFZ conference idea: What isn’t working, why, and what might have a chance "At the heart of the problem is the existence of two competing logics for how arms control discussions in the Middle East should proceed: immediate focus on the elimination of Israel’s assumed nuclear weapons (Egypt’s view), or dealing first with the very problematic context of inter-state relations in the Middle East, creating essential channels of communication and dialogue, and establishing a basis of mutual confidence and trust (Israel’s view)." By Emily B. Landau
Strengthening legitimacy and political will for nuclear trade controls Besides threats to effectiveness, the multilateral export control system for nuclear weapons faces a separate challenge of political will and legitimacy. By Mark Hibbs
Weapons development and harmful arms proliferation Ben Coetzee reminds "that the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons were left unchecked and unregulated until it reached a point where it is costing the world billions of dollars to mitigate the damage caused by these weapons." By Ben Coetzee
Pursuing an Improved Nuclear Order in Difficult Times The global system of nuclear security has many gaps and weaknesses. Des Browne points out why Russia is a key player and what needs to be concentrated on at the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands in 2014. By Des Browne
The Future Of Arms Control Dossier: The Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin held an international expert conference on the “Future of Arms Control”, jointly organized with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and the Institute for Peace Research and Security Studies (IFSH) at the University of Hamburg. We are now pleased to publish the conference proceedings.