ABSTRACT
In Prague on April 5, 2009 President Barack Obama said: “I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”1 He went on to say of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) that “The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move towards disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them, and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy.” Obama thus reiterated clearly and forcefully the terms of the “double bargain” of the NPT, underlining the connection between nuclear disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation. That link is now the subject of considerable discussion in the United States. Is there a genuine “double bargain” at work between the parties to the NPT? If the nuclear weapons states work in good faith to reduce and ultimately to abolish their nuclear arsenals, will that affect the non-proliferation regime? How will it affect the regime if they do not do so?
