Working group 5: Nuclear Disarmament in Policy and International Law
Working Group 5 considers the range of issues related to nuclear disarmament in the context of policy and international law. The working group co-chairs regularly engage international experts in the field, exchanging on the impact of ongoing developments in the strategic context, and exploring pathways forward to help reinvigorate multilateral arms control and disarmament efforts.
Research, anchored in the work of SIPRI staff and associates, will look to fill substantive gaps in the field identified in these exchanges, diving into topics such as the impact of technological developments on nuclear risk, the role of regional security dilemmas on deterrence and disarmament, and gendered perspectives on nuclear weapons policy.
The group also undertakes activities aimed to increase broad awareness of nuclear issues and facilitate career entry of the next generation of disarmament experts, including in conjunction with SIPRI’s role as coordinator of the EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.
Primary Research Topics
- Multilateral frameworks, processes, and mechanisms in nuclear governance
- Concepts of and assumptions underlying disarmament and deterrence in the contemporary context
- Technological developments and their impact on nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament
- Gendered perspectives on nuclear weapons policy
Working group Leader: Dr Sibylle Bauer
Dr Sibylle Bauer is Director of Studies, Armament and Disarmament at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with responsibility for SIPRI’s work on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation; dual-use and arms trade control; emerging technologies; and arms production, arms transfer and military expenditure. She is also the current Chair of the EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.
Before joining SIPRI in 2003, Dr Sibylle Bauer was a Researcher at the Institute for European Studies (Université libre de Bruxelles) in Brussels. She holds a PhD jointly from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and the Free University of Berlin.
Working group Leader: Dr Wilfred Wan
Dr Wilfred Wan is the Director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. His recent research focuses on nuclear weapon risk reduction, nuclear disarmament verification, and other issues related to arms control and disarmament. He is the author of Regional Pathways to Nuclear Nonproliferation (University of Georgia Press, 2018).
Previously he worked at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (Geneva, Switzerland). He has a PhD in political science from the University of California, Irvine.
Publications
Expanding Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament
Working Paper Compendium, December 2023
This compendium of working papers Pdf, 2 MB. features contributions by the members of the AMC Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament in Policy and International Law, and by students and early-career professionals selected following an open call for abstracts. The first part of the collection features scene-setting pieces which reconsider the notion of ‘nuclear disarmament’ and relevant concepts in the contemporary strategic context. The second part of the collection feature original research on an array of topics. These have been sorted into four broad thematic areas:
- the role of nuclear-armed states in the disarmament space
- key processes and mechanisms that can help facilitate disarmament progress
- potential impacts of technological advancements
- frameworks and perspectives that can help recast disarmament concepts
2023
- Erästö, T., More investment in nuclear deterrence will not make Europe safer (Essay, December 2023 )
- Raju, N. and Erästö, T., The Role of Space Systems in Nuclear Deterrence (SIPRI, Stockholm: September 2023)
- Wilfred Wan, Vladislav Chernavskikh (Red.) (2023) Expanding Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament
- Erästö, T., The Role of Umbrella States in the Global Nuclear Order (SIPRI, Stockholm: June 2023)
2022
- Erästö, T., Revisiting ‘Minimal Nuclear Deterrence’: Laying the Ground for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament (SIPRI, Stockholm: June 2022)
Outreach and Collaboration
2024
Event organised by the group:
- Diversifying Nuclear Disarmament Education', expert workshop, Solna, Sweden, June 2024.
A selection of events where members of the working group participated and/or gave talks:
- ‘World Emerging Security Forum’, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, Seoul, ROK, December 2024.
- ‘EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Conference’, organized by the Istituto Affari Internazionali on behalf of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPDC), Brussels, Belgium, November 2024.
- ‘16th Nuclear and Security Forum’, hosted at the Arab League Headquarters, Cairo, Egypt, October 2024.
- ‘AI and Nuclear Decision-Making’, ‘Deterring NPT Withdrawal’, and ‘Nuclear Risk Reduction in the Framework of CEND’, side events at the Second Preparatory Committee to the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Geneva, Switzerland, July-August 2024.
- ‘Multilateral Nuclear Diplomacy in Turbulent Times?’, organized by the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Nonproliferation, Krems, Austria, June 2024.
- ‘Creating an Environment for Nuclear Disarmament’, organized by the German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, May 2024.
- ‘Toward the 2024 NPT Preparatory Committee Session’, organized by the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies, Annecy, France, March 2024.
2023
- “How Nuclear Disarmament is Taught”, Second Meeting of States Parties of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), New York, USA, November 2023.
- “Perspectives on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Disarmament”, public panel event, Solna, Sweden, March 2023.
2022
- “Nuclear Disarmament at a Crossroads?”, Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), New York, USA, August 2022.
Contact
- For questions about the working group's research and activities:
- Sibylle Bauer
- Wilfred Wan