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Nuclear Weapon-free World: Reconciling Moral and Security Imperatives

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  • Muchkund Dubey

    (Muchkund Dubey is the President of the Council for Social Development (CSD), former Professor of International Relations, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and former Foreign Secretary, Government of India. He has a Masters degree in Economics from Patna University and later studied Economics at Oxford and New York Universities. He has a D.Litt degree (Honoris Causa) from the University of Calcutta. He was the Indian Member on the Executive Board of UNESCO, and Chairman of the Common School System Commission, Bihar. He has authored three books, co-edited 8 books, and published numerous journal articles.)

  • Sheel Kant Sharma

    (Sheel Kant Sharma is a Distinguished Alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, where he obtained a PhD in Physics (1975). He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973, serving in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Geneva, and Algeria during his tenure. He was the Indian Ambassador to Austria, and Permanent Representative of India to the U.N. offices in Vienna and the IAEA. He was the Indian member of the IAEA Board of Governors from 2004 to 2008. Subsequently, he was the Secretary General of SAARC from 2008 to 2011. He has written articles as well as chapters in books on disarmament, nuclear policy, non-proliferation and deterrence, South Asian regionalism, and ASEAN.)

Abstract

The arms control approach of more than six decades to deal with the nuclear peril lies in shambles. Nuclear weapons remain in huge numbers, and the dire consequences of their use remain undiminished, with portents of a new era of deadlier weapons and a new spiral of arms race. Hence a detailed and deeper examination of all issues connected with nuclear weapons is called for. Key to this is centrality of nuclear disarmament and the overriding international commitment to abolish nuclear weapons and the premise that nuclear weapons are the instrument of mass annihilation and cannot be used as weapons of war. This basic premise was lost sight of in the political expediency and compulsions of the Cold War and the subsequent play of geopolitics. There is a need to return to this basic premise, which should not be subordinated to political management of a renewed nuclear arms race. In keeping with these basics the pathways to the ultimate goal of abolition have been delineated.

Suggested Citation

  • Muchkund Dubey & Sheel Kant Sharma, 2020. "Nuclear Weapon-free World: Reconciling Moral and Security Imperatives," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 76(2), pages 170-184, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:indqtr:v:76:y:2020:i:2:p:170-184
    DOI: 10.1177/0974928420917800
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