Getting to Zero: The Path to Nuclear Disarmament

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January 1, 2011

Kelleher and Reppy edited this volume. Book introduction If one decied to get rid of all nuclear weapons in the world, the first question would be how to go about it. But a second, equally important but less frequently asked question, would be: what else would you then have to do to ensure the safety and security of citizens and the peace and stability of the global community? Ridding the world of nuclear weapons is desireable only if a safer world is actually brought into being. How can we do that? In this project we took as given that complete nuclear disarmament will happen and focused our attention on what that will imply. We agreed to take as our guiding principle that any proposals for policy should advance the cause of going to zero. Thus, the chapters in the book do not debate whether going to zero is feasible or a good idea. Instead, they address in some detail what nuclear zero will mean for existing institutions, issues, and practices. What has to change for nuclear states to embrace nuclear disarmament as a pressing goal, not a far-distant vision to be disregarded in making policy today? How can countries chafing against, or even outside, the nonproliferation regime be persuaded to abandon their nuclear ambitions? The chapters seek to offer the beginnings of a road map to a world in which nuclear weapons will no longer be the currency of power, but instead a historical memory.