The Obstacles to a South Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

Abstract

The 1990s are witnessing a restructuring of the global strategic order, reflecting the realities of the emerging post-Cold War world — an environment that is not necessarily more peaceful, but where major wars between leading nations are less likely than they have been for the last fifty years. The strategic order is in transition, from a bipolar, through temporary unipolarity, to a multipolar world. Yet major powers will still have a dominant voice for some time. A major impact of this has been on the state of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It had been hoped that after the Cold War, a serious debate would emerge on the role of WMD, and that these could be eliminated over a period of time through international consensus. But the reality has unfolded differently. The nuclear-weapons states (NWS) continue to see these weapons as necessary for their security. Given their ultimate global political authority as permanent members of the UN Security Council, their views are likely to prevail, as long as there is consensus amongst them.