ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the collective action framework introduced in Chapter 1 to examine the evolution of controls in the early nuclear age. This includes an examination of the transition from war time to peace time controls on atomic energy, cooperation between the war-time allies (UK, US, and Canada), and efforts led by the US to establish an effective system of international control for atomic energy by the UN Atomic Energy Commission. It is concluded that the primary and specific reason this early initiative failed was the unwillingness of the Soviet Union to accept what the US (and other Western powers) considered to be the essential elements of an effective system of control, which included international control of atomic energy. More generally, however, the failure must be seen in the context of the evolving Cold War environment within which the Soviet Union was behind in the production of nuclear weapons. In applying the research framework, it is concluded that both structural and core factors (i.e., mistrust and a lack of a non-proliferation norm in the period) aligned to discourage cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation trade controls in this period.
