Nuclear proliferation: Some context and consequences

The article addressed the importance of nonproliferation and supporting and reinforcing nonproliferation commitments. The most important benefit of the NPT has been in its contribution to the security of individual states party, as well as to regional and international security, through the obligations which help to prevent any further proliferation of nuclear weapons. The NPT therefore powerfully augments the national security of every state party, and not merely just the NPT nuclear weapons states. Indeed, it is the countries of the developing world, as well as many other non-nuclear weapon states, that could suffer the most in security terms if a non-nuclear weapons state in the developing world suddenly acquired The Bomband became emboldened to engage in threats and adventurism against its neighbors. The nonproliferation regime hinges upon the steps that all countries take on their own and with like-minded allies to further nonproliferation goals - and whether the international community can successfully shape the calculations of present-day and future would-be proliferation in useful ways. The nonproliferation regime, therefore, includes not just the NPT and other legally-binding obligations but complex dynamics of persuasion and deterrence that employ many different tools. The NPT helps establish the core nonproliferation obligations toward which many of the tools in the international community's tool kit are directed.