Nuclear armed states already offer some limited and conditional guarantees (NSAs) that they will not threaten nuclear attack on other states that do not have nuclear weapons. This report looks at the opportunities there are in building upon these guarantees.
Publication
Report: Foregrounding India’s Nuclear Responsibilities: Nuclear Weapons Possession and Disarmament in South Asia
The wider international milieu should consider the risks posed by the Indo-Pak confrontation because they have both violated the ‘first law’ of nuclear politics: nuclear-armed states do not fight wars with each other.
NATO Needs a Declaratory Policy
NATO has never had a declaratory policy. Instead it has explicitly preferred thus far to rely on the three distinct declaratory policies of its nuclear member-states, despite their contrasting conditions-for-use.
Briefing: Leading by Example: Reforming UK Nuclear Declaratory Policy
By reforming its nuclear declaratory policy, the UK has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership by example on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation without negatively impacting its established nuclear deterrent posture.
Report: Changing Nuclear Weapons Policy in the Trump Era: Implications for Europe
President Trump’s emerging nuclear policy presents ‘extraordinary challenges to strategic stability, arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation within Europe’, and undermines European security. President Trump’s US Nuclear Posture Review is expected in the next two months.
Report: A Small Sacrifice for Security: Why Finland gave up its landmines
Finland joined the Antipersonnel Landmine Ban Treaty despite an overwhelming belief that their national defence doctrine depended upon the deployment of landmines, and the refusal of their neighbour Russia to participate.
Negative Security Assurances (June 2017 Briefing)
In the first of a new series of briefing papers from BASIC Executive Director, Paul Ingram, reviews Negative Security Assurances (NSAs) and their significance in the context of the Ban Treaty talks and beyond.
Report: Hacking UK Trident: A Growing Threat
This paper reviews the growing potential for cyber-attack on the UK’s operational fleet of Vanguard-class submarines armed with nuclear-tipped Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles, and some of the implications for strategic stability.