The threat posed by the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missiles poses one of the central security challenges of the 21st Century. To address this challenge, the IISS Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme seeks to provide balanced and objective assessments of proliferation threats promote development of a comprehensive non-proliferation strategy, and support international efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation regime and deal with the most dangerous regional proliferation threats while also exploring how nuclear energy can safely be harnessed for sustainable economic development. The programme also seeks to encourage a stronger congruence of non-proliferation and arms control policies. By lending our convening power and analytical weight to the disarmament topic, the IISS can provide space, both figuratively and literally, for a neutral, non-polemic discussion of the policy and strategic implications of moving toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
The IISS has convened a series of meetings involving officials and experts from key countries to improve dialogue and encourage greater cooperation on proliferation issues, with particular emphasis on improving transatlantic cooperation. The objective of this effort is to help develop a comprehensive non-proliferation strategy that incorporates and integrates elements of prevention, defence, and pre-emption, along with the military, political, diplomatic and economic instruments necessary to deal with proliferation threats.
In addition, the IISS engages directly with officials and experts from countries of proliferation concern, such as North Korea and Iran, and organises meetings to support international efforts to address these threats.
Among other publications on proliferation issues, the Institute’s Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme’s research has produced a series of IISS Strategic Dossiers, including, most recently: Nuclear Programmes in the Middle East: in the Shadow of Iran (published in May 2008) and Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks (May 2007). . Previous strategic dossiers assessed weapons programmes capabilities in Iran (September 2005), North Korea (January 2004) and Iraq (September 2002),
The IISS will shortly complete a study on the political and technical requirements for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The purpose of the project is to define, as a matter of analysis, not policy preference or advocacy, just what the key characteristics of a reasonably-secure nuclear-weapon-free world would be, and how movement towards it might have to be shaped. The aim of the study is not to establish or advocate a programme of action, but rather to lay a better foundation of understanding upon which debate about prospects and options might be advanced.
Sir Michael Quinlan's exploratory essay, which initiated the project, appeared in the winter 2007/8 edition of Survival (see below). An Adelphi Paper on the topic will be published in the second half of 2008.
Adelphi Papers:
Strategic Comments:
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Syria's secret reactor (Volume 14 Issue 5, June 2008)
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Iran's nuclear programme (Volume 13 Issue 10, December 2007)
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Nuclear Iran - how close is it? (Volume 13 Issue 7, September 2007)
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US missile defence (Volume 13 Issue 3, April 2007)
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Iran's nuclear programme (Volume 13 Issue 3, April 2007)
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Halting North Korea's nuclear programme: Complicated Next Steps (Volume 13 Issue 2, March 2007)
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Nuclear Energy Expansion in the Middle East: Reactions to Iran? (Volume 12 Issue 9, November 2006
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North Korea's Nuclear Test: Continuing Reverbations (Volume 12 Issue 8, October 2006)
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North Korea’s Missile Tests (Volume 12 Issue 6, July 2006)
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US military options against emerging nuclear threats (Volume 12 Issue 3, April 2006)
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The Future of Britain’s Nuclear Deterrent (Volume 12 Issue 2, March 2006)
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Iran’s Nuclear Programme (Volume 12 Issue 1, April 2006);
Survival:
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Nuclear Threat Reduction: Cooperating in Troubled Timesby Jack Caravelli (Volume 50, No 3, June-July 2008)
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South Asia’s Nuclear Decade by Bruce Riedel (Volume 50, No 2, April-May 2008)
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Living with Ambiguity: Nuclear Deals with Iran and North Korea byRobert S. Litwak(Volume 50, No 1, February-March 2008)
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Abolishing Nuclear Armouries: Policy or Pipedream? by Sir Michael Quinlan (Volume 49, No 4, Winter 2007-8)
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The Iranian Nuclear Impasse by Tim Guldimann(Volume 49, No 3, Autumn 2007)
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Beyond the Dirty Bomb: Re-thinking Radiological Terror by James M. Acton, M. Brooke Rogers and Peter D. Zimmerman (Volume 49, No 3, Autumn 2007)
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A Nuclear Iran: The Reactions of Neighbours by Dalia Dassa Kaye and Frederic M. Wehrey (Volume 49, No 2, Summer 2007)
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Can Iran’s Nuclear Capability Be Kept Latent? by Mark Fitzpatrick (Volume 49, No1, Spring 2007)
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A Nuclear-armed North Korea: Accepting the ‘Unacceptable’?, by Mitchell B. Reiss (Volume 48, No 4, Winter 2006)
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Assessing Iran’s Nuclear Programme, by Mark Fitzpatrick (Volume 48, No3, Autumn 2006)
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Securing Nuclear Obsolescence, by Dennis M. Gormley (Volume 48, No3, Autumn 2006)
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Nuclear Terrorism: A Disheartening Dissent, by Anna M. Pluta and Peter D. Zimmerman (Volume 48, No 2, Summer 2006
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Iran and North Korea: The Proliferation Nexus, by Mark Fitzpatrick (Volume 48, No1, Spring 2006)
The Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme is directed by Mark Fitzpatrick, Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation.. For recent articles and testimony by Mark Fitzpatrick, please click here. Programme coordination is undertaken by Ben Rhode, Research Analyst.
For details of Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme Conferences, please click on the links on the left.
For further information on the Non Proliferation and Disarmament Programme, please contact Mark Fitzpatrick.
