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Since 1987, we’ve been at the forefront of global efforts to build trust and cooperation on some of the world’s most progressive global peace and security initiatives.
BASIC has eight active programmes, each offering innovative paths to support the global objectives of nuclear disarmament and arms control.
See our latest publications, analysis and events here:
Read more here about the latest opportunity to join the BASIC team. Applications for BASIC Policy Fellow close 27 June 2021.
This piece, by Mr Zhou Chang forms of a number of reflective pieces written by experts to respond to the Nuclear Responsibilities Approach and is co-published between BASIC, the ICCS and the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA).
Laura Rose Brown is appointed as BASIC and University of Leeds’ ESRC PhD Researcher on gendering nuclear weapons policy.
We provide analysis on the latest debates in the field of nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation.
The Integrated Review
In just 76 words highlighted below across three statements in the nuclear deterrent section of the 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy (IR), the UK government reversed its policy of gradual reduction of the variety, number and salience of its nuclear weapons in place through successive governments since the end of the Cold War.
President Obama considered it, and as Vice-President, Biden advocated for it. Will the Biden Administration now commit to a No First Use policy?
The Johnson Government has set a decisive course away from the United Kingdom’s three decade-long trend of successive nuclear reductions and increasing transparency.
The Gender, Think-Tanks and International Affairs Toolkit has been jointly developed and published by BASIC,…
We seek in this report to suggest ways, and crucially propose a new method, to gradually shift the nature of the contemporary global conversation on nuclear weapons away from one characterised by rights, blame, and suspicion towards one framed by responsibility, empathic cooperation, and even trust.
States have employed risk reduction strategies in order to manage some of the unintended consequences…
On 22nd November 2019, BASIC organised a half-day scoping workshop in New Delhi at the…
This report arises from a roundtable on ‘European strategies for strategic risk reduction’ on 1…
This report arises from a roundtable on ‘Developing European Perspectives on Nuclear Risks’ on 7 May 2019, hosted at the Polish Mission to the UN in New York and under the sponsorship of the Dutch Foreign Ministry during the 2019 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee.
The Stepping Stones Approach seeks to engage all members of the international community in a cooperative and inclusive process that nudges the nuclear possessor states away from arms racing dynamics and in a more positive direction, with the intention of reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in postures, achieving incremental disarmament and progressively building up the capacity for further steps.
Nuclear disarmament has fallen off the public agenda. Media attention is sporadic and reactive, focusing on short-term trends like summits with North Korea or sanctions on Iran. But the longer-term process of global disarmament rarely features in the news cycle and where there is reference it is treated with disdain as unrealistic. This has serious costs to public engagement and democratic accountability.
BASIC believes in making progress on nuclear disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation through multiple complementary approaches. We continuously develop our programmes – streams of research – through sustained engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, collectively searching for the art of the possible.
Our current programmes are listed below. To see our Programme’s page, click here. To see our completed programmes, visit our archive.
Nuclear risks have been increasing. Find out what can be done to counteract this trend:
Recent deadly military incidents and an ongoing border conflict between China and India has led…
States have employed risk reduction strategies in order to manage some of the unintended consequences…
This report arises from a roundtable on ‘European strategies for strategic risk reduction’ on 1…
This article was co-authored with Professor Nicholas J. Wheeler, Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security…
This parliamentary briefing was issued in advance of the Debate on the report from the International Relations Committee ‘Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’, Tuesday, 16th of July 2019. This is an opportunity to consider the ways in which the UK can reduce nuclear risks globally, and engage in meaningful multilateral disarmament processes ahead of the 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
This report arises from a roundtable on ‘Developing European Perspectives on Nuclear Risks’ on 7 May 2019, hosted at the Polish Mission to the UN in New York and under the sponsorship of the Dutch Foreign Ministry during the 2019 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee.
The security environment in Europe has deteriorated in recent years, and nuclear risks have re-emerged as a prime concern for European governments.
In a difficult international environment, the disarmament steps agreed at NPT review conferences seem increasingly blocked. The Stepping Stones approach suggests a pathway for unblocking disarmament:
Whilst the public debate over nuclear disarmament tends to deal in black and white, the reality is that the nuclear disarmament process to which every member of the international community is committed to inevitably involves a complex set of steps that can be taken unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally. And this process inevitably involves uncertainty and setback.
On Tuesday, 11 June, Foreign Ministers from 15 countries meet in Stockholm to discuss how to make progress on nuclear disarmament. The impetus for this meeting is the Swedish ‘Stepping Stones’ implementation approach, presented in April at the United Nations in order to revive the blocked disarmament pathway in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
BASIC co-developed the Stepping Stones framework with Sweden, and this year has a supporting project with roundtables and publications.
The Stepping Stones Approach seeks to engage all members of the international community in a cooperative and inclusive process that nudges the nuclear possessor states away from arms racing dynamics and in a more positive direction, with the intention of reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in postures, achieving incremental disarmament and progressively building up the capacity for further steps.
This is a roundtable report for the roundtable ‘Pragmatic Leadership to achieve progress on disarmament: Finding Stepping Stones in the Step-by-Step approach’, organised by BASIC in London on 22 November 2018.
The roundtable assessed the general health of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the state of nuclear disarmament and arms control, and what leadership means in creating a cooperative approach at the 2020 NPT Review Conference.
BASIC is developing new approaches to overcome states’ dependency on the doctrine of nuclear deterrence, which blocks global nuclear disarmament and drives proliferation. We engage diverse perspectives, encourage empathy across states, and broaden the context of debate. We have an established reputation for non-partisan, non-judgemental, cross-cultural engagement and for seeking common ground.
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