Details
- Offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis of the international law and organisations involved in WMD proliferation, incorporating legal, political, and foreign relations perspectives
- Examines highly topical and pressing issues in contemporary current affairs such as the regulation of worldwide proliferation of weapons technologies (including chemical, biological, nuclear weapons) and the ongoing conflict in Iraq
- Analyses the success of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty 1968, and diplomatic efforts to curb nuclear weapons growth since then
- Of wide interest, including legal practitioners, politicians, NGO and military personnel, and UN officials, as well as legal and political scholars
Proliferation of WMD technologies is by no means a new concern for the international community. Indeed, since the signing of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 1968, tremendous energies have been expended upon diplomatic efforts to create a web of treaties and international organisations regulating the production and stockpiling of WMD sensitive materials within states, as well as their spread through the increasingly globalised channels of international trade to other states and non-state actors.
However, the intervention in 2003 by Western powers in Iraq has served as an illustration of the importance of greater understanding of and attention to this area of law, as disagreements over its content and application have once again lead to a potentially destabilising armed intervention by members of the United Nations into the sovereign territory of another member state. Other ongoing disputes between states regarding the character of obligations assumed under non-proliferation treaty instruments, and the effect of international organisations' decisions in this area, form some of the most contentious and potentially destabilising issues of foreign policy concern for many states.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of international law and organisations in the area of WMD proliferation. It will serve both as a reference for understanding the law as it currently exists in its political and economic context, as well as an analysis of areas in which amendments to existing law and organisations are needed.
I. Non-Proliferation Law
1: The Nuclear Non-proliferation Regime
2: The Chemical and Biological Weapons Non-proliferation Regimes
3: The World Trade Organization and WMD Dual-Use Export Controls
II. Non-Proliferation Law and the United Nations System
4: Non-proliferation Law and the United Nations System: The U.N. Political Bodies
5: Non-proliferation Law and the United Nations System: The International Court of Justice
III. Counterproliferation Policy
6: Counterproliferation Policy
7: The Challenges of Counterproliferation: Law and Policy of the Iraq Intervention
8: The Challenges of Counterproliferation: The Proliferation of Security Initiative
9: Jus ad Bellum in the Age of WMD Proliferation
Daniel H. Joyner, Associate Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law
"This book is both important and timely. In it, the author leads the reader meticulously through some of the most intricate and urgent problems of national security, addressing the historical origins of our contemporary security problems and the most dangerous and provocative present threats to stability. Intended principally for lawyers (and providing a comprehensive, thoroughly documented analysis of the principal international and domestic legal sources and texts), the work also merits a broader audience, for it parses non-proliferation and counter-proliferation policy with striking clarity, offering fresh insights and proposing novel solutions. It deserves a place on any informed citizen's bookshelf. David A. Koplow, Georgetown Law"
"There is no doubt that Mr Joyner's book is highly relevant for all interested in the field of international law and security...Mr. Joyner's book is clear, well structered and does not avoid the hard questions facing the actors of the security community including the challenges facing non-proliferation law today." - Vincent Roobaert, Nato Legal Gazette
"Scrupulously researched, the book will be of great interest not only to academics and practitioners, but could also be recommended for a postgraduate course...not only a brilliant critique of non-proliferation law but also a proactive proposal of reforms and solutions to existing problems" - Marco Roscino, International and Comparative Law Quarterly Roscino, International and Comparative Law Quarterly
