ABSTRACT
The world is undergoing profound and rapid transformation at several levels and we are witnessing dramatic technological change, with far-reaching social and political consequences that we are still trying to come to grips with. The processes of change – technological, demographic and climatic – present enormous challenges for governance at all levels and give a new urgency to the question of world order. It is sometimes argued that “rules-based” order is now being replaced by a world order of great power politics. In other words, American predominance is weakening and the power and influence of other powers is growing. Whether or not we accept these characterisations of the world order, there is a sense that we are at a point of transition but do not know what we are transitioning to. In the context of nuclear weapons, this chapter considers how we ensure that these processes do not threaten international peace and security. With arms control, as we have known it, arguably at an end and a new period of technological competition underway, what adjustments do we have to make to ensure that the basis exists for co-operative security in the emerging world order?
