Nuclear Weapons Law, Policy, and Practice

A new nuclear arms race is underway between Russia and the United States, one that focuses on the technology of delivery of nuclear warheads. This book describes how and why this race is happening, who still possesses nuclear weapons, and what constraints apply to those weapons under international law. A global nuclear ban treaty entered into force in January 2021, but the nuclear powers kept distant. The last remaining treaty restraining the arsenals of the two nuclear superpowers will expire in less than five years' time and the risk is that other States will turn to nuclear arms for their defence, further fracturing the non-proliferation regime installed after the Cuban missile crisis.

Cases and Materials; Introduction; 1. The development of nuclear weapons; 2. Use of nuclear weapons; 3. The treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons; 4. The testing of nuclear weapons; 5. Agreements between Russia and the United States; 6. Treaties prohibiting nuclear weapons; 7. Verification; 8. Use and testing of nuclear weapons under international law; Concluding remarks on the future of nuclear arms control and disarmament; Select bibliography.

Stuart Casey-Maslen is an Honorary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He was the legal advisor to the Austria delegation in the diplomatic conference that negotiated the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017. He has written or edited ten major works on different aspects of weapons law.