ABSTRACT
Against the backdrop of global governance’s decades-long failure to secure humanity from the threat posed by nuclear weapons, The International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) blazed a fresh trail towards nuclear disarmament. Leveraging three key strategies relating to its structure, message and model, ICAN successfully reenergised the nuclear prohibition movement, gained international notoriety when it was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize and played a crucial role in mobilising the ratification by 91 states of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons—the first and only comprehensive global nuclear ban treaty to date. Beyond the unprecedented impact it has had on the nuclear discourse, ICAN has proven that landmark international agreements can have their nexus in individuals and grass-roots coalitions.
