Zoe Levornik, MIT
Arms control – a form of military cooperation between potential enemies in the interest of reducing the likelihood of war, its scope and violence if it occurs, and the political and economic costs of being prepared for it. there are two dimensions to halting nuclear proliferation, the qualitative one of preventing further testing of nuclear devices, in order to freeze nuclear weapon development at its existing levels; and the quantitative one of halting the production of fissile material for military purposes, thus placing a limit on the numbers of nuclear weapons that could be built by the existing nuclear weapon states
| Treaty | Year | Goals & Achievements | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) | 1957 | The Agency is established to facilitate the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, while ensuring that the assistance the Agency provides will not be used for military purposes. | About IAEA |
| European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). | 1957 | Created to coordinate the Member States’ research programs for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The treaty ensures security of supply and prevents nuclear materials intended principally for civilian use from being diverted to military use | Euratom pdf |
| The Partial Test-Ban Treaty | 1963 | Prohibits nuclear weapons tests “or any other nuclear explosion” in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. | Read more |
| The Outer Space Treaty | 1967 | sought to prevent “a new form of colonial competition” and the possible damage that self-seeking exploitation might cause. | Read more |
| The Treaty of TLATELOLCO | 1967 | prohibiting nuclear weapons and establishing a nuclear free zone in Latin America. | Read more |
| The Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) | 1968 | The Treaty has three primary goals: preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons; facilitating international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards; and encouraging negotiations on nuclear arms control. The treaty distinguishes between two categories of states, nuclear weapon states (NWS) and nonnuclear weapon states (NNWS), and defines separate obligations for states in each of the categories. | Read more |
| The SALT I (strategic arms limitation talks) | 1972 | For the first time during the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union had agreed to limit the number of nuclear missiles in their arsenals | Read more |
| The ABM treaty | 1972 | limited strategic missile defenses to 200 interceptors each and allowed each side to construct two missile defense sites, one to protect the national capital, the other to protect one ICBM field. | Read more |
| The Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) | 1974 | establishes a nuclear “threshold,” by prohibiting tests having a yield exceeding 150 kilotons. | Read more |
| SALT II Treaty | 1978 | limited the total of both nations’ nuclear forces to 2,250 delivery vehicles and placed a variety of other restrictions on deployed strategic nuclear forces, including MIRVs. While the treaty was never ratified by the U.S. Both Washington and Moscow pledged to adhere to the agreement’s terms | Read more |
| The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) | 1978 | Established following the report of the ZANGGER Committee (1974) which represents the first major international effort to develop export controls on nuclear materials | Read more |
| The RAROTONGA treaty | 1985 | eight members of the South Pacific Forum, including Australia and New Zealand, establish a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific | Read more |
| The INF treaty | 1987 | The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles. | Read more |
| The START I treaty | 1991 | the first treaty to provide for deep reductions of U.S. and Soviet/Russian strategic nuclear weapons. It played an indispensable role in ensuring the predictability and stability of the strategic balance and serving as a framework for even deeper reductions.. | Read more |
| The Nunn-Lugar legislation | 1991 | approved $400 million in U.S. aid to help the CIS with the storage, transportation, dismantlement, and destruction of nuclear and chemical weapons, defense conversion, and military-to-military exchanges | Read more |
| The Southeast Asian Nuclear Free Zone (SEANWFZ) | 1995 | included the seven-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, joined also by Cambodia, Laos, and Burma | Read more |
| The PELINDABA treaty for a nuclear weapons free zone in Africa (AFNWFZ) | 1996 | signed by fruity three African nations | Read more |
| The CTBT | 1996 | bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion (i.e., true zero yield) | Read more |
| START II Treaty | 2000 | established a limit on strategic weapons for each Party, with reductions to be implemented in two phases. | Read more |
| UNSCR 1540 | 2004 | establishing for the first time binding obligations on all UN member states under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to take and enforce effective measures against the proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery and related materials. | Read more |
| The New START – Strategic Offensive Reductions | 2010 | continues the bipartisan process of verifiably reducing U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals. | Read more |