Multilateralism

The sustainability of the P5 process and expectations for London

The United Kingdom will play host this week to the United States, France, China and Russia for a meeting of the “P5 Process”. This is the last meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nuclear weapon states (NWS) prior to the NPT Review Conference this April. These states have been meeting for five years and the pressure is on to demonstrate concrete evidence that a multilateral approach can achieve some progress in meeting disarmament obligations. But is the “P5 Process” sustainable, and if so, what should we realistically expect from the London meeting?

Toward the 2015 NPT Review Conference: Attitudes and Expectations of Member States in the Middle East

What might happen if States Parties from one of the most volatile regions in the world were to reconsider their membership of the principle international treaty that controls the deadliest weapons on Earth? Almost 20 years since the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), members of the Arab League have threatened to reconsider their position toward that extension on the basis that there has been no progress on the 1995 resolution associated with establishing a Middle East Zone free from weapons of mass destruction.