ABSTRACT
For several years nuclear arms control and non-proliferation regimes and processes have been plagued by a deepening crisis. Literally every channel of negotiation has been deadlocked and the entire system of existing agreements and regimes has entered a state of stagnation or disintegration. This is a dangerous and unprecedented situation in the last half century. However, nuclear disarmament is not a utopian dream but rather an imperative—provided that our civilization as we know it is willing to survive. At the same time, a nuclear-free world is not the present world minus nuclear weapons, but rather a world that has a different security system: the one that rests upon the strict legal basis for the use of force, stringent limits on conventional armed forces, and bans on weapons on the new physical principles. In the last quarter of a century, deep nuclear arms reductions were not followed by the corresponding transformation of the world order and eventually international tensions and technological developments took their revenge on arms control. Consequently, leaders must begin this work immediately. No security architecture can succeed without leaders who are willing to cooperate and to address the core issues which are investigated in this chapter.
