Introduction

This chapter examines how and why opportunities have been seized and lost in the context of enhancing international nuclear non-proliferation trade controls over time. It examines the nature of the evolving nuclear proliferation challenge, drawing in part on previously un-utilised primary source archival material and interviews, and provides original insights into how and why international controls did not evolve in a more optimal fashion during key periods from the beginning of the nuclear age, and early efforts to control the atom, to more recent times and the challenge posed by the Iranian and the North Korean nuclear ambitions. The evolution of international nuclear non-proliferation trade controls has been subject to increasing academic interest in recent years. In recent years, efforts have begun to be made to explore the reasons for the evolution of international nuclear trade controls.