ABSTRACT
There is a widespread global commitment, at least in terms of political rhetoric, to the eventual abolition of all nuclear armouries. There have also been, from time to time, high-level suggestions – for example in the Reagan-Gorbachev dialogue
at Reykjavik in October 1986, and in Rajiv Gandhi’s speech at the United Nations
General Assembly in June 19881 – of giving it real political impetus. With a few notable exceptions, however, the subject for long periods attracted curiously little
examination at a level that could be regarded as of truly serious objectivity.
