Abstract

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has served as the centrepiece for global nuclear governance since opening for signatures in 1968. Regulating an issue that stands at the core of security considerations, the treaty counter-intuitively has become one of the most long-lasting and widely adhered-to cooperative arrangements at the international level. At the same time, the nuclear landscape is rife with challenges, with ‘legacies, reiterations, or reincarnations of problems that the regime has failed over many years to tackle effectively’ (Johnson 2010: 429). These include twin issues of security and safety, non-compliance sagas in Iran and North Korea (the latter still unresolved), and the lingering status of treaty non-parties. The inability of parties to reach consensus on a final document at the 2015 Treaty Review Conference suggests fundamental discord with the arrangement. How do we reconcile this image of a troubled and long-ineffective non-proliferation campaign with its longevity, and what does it mean for its future?