ABSTRACT
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has been the cornerstone of efforts to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons since its inception. The treaty also acts as a significant legal barrier to proliferation, and a confidence-building instrument underpinning global and national security. The treaty achieves this through its triangular linkage between its essential elements: non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy – the three pillars. The chapter illustrates the result of a grand bargain, the negotiations of which had their origins in the 1950s and took the best part of 20 years to complete. The bargain needed to satisfy the mutual suspicions of the Cold War superpowers, and incorporate the interests of the non-nuclear weapons states. Clearly Cold War dynamics between the superpowers had been a central feature of the NPT's genesis. The 'delinkage' of disarmament from non-proliferation is the most damaging failure of non-proliferation efforts, and carries serious implications for the goal of disarmament.
