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New negotiation book: Banning the bang or the bomb.

26 Mar 2014 - 10:03

While talks continue on international regime building considering nuclear materials and terrorism, the Cingendaels Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) program launches a new book on the negotiations leading to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which has not entered into effect, almost 18 years after completing the negotiations. What lessons can be drawn from the CTBT for future international cooperation for nuclear issues.

CTBT

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), negotiated between 1994 and 1996, is the latest development in the nuclear arms control regime. It continues to serve a vital role in preserving the privileged status of the nuclear-weapon states and barring the way to proliferation. Banning the Bang or the Bomb? brings together a team of leading international experts who together analyze its negotiation as a model of regime creation, examining collective dynamics, the behavior of individual countries, and the nature of specific issues. The book offers practical guidance and training for future members of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization inspectorate to help them negotiate during an on-site inspection (OSI) in an inspected state. This is a valuable resource for researchers and professionals alike that turns an analysis of what has happened into a manual for what is about to happen.

Complex negotiations

‘The creation and implementation of the nuclear test ban regime has involved and still requires complex negotiations. With contributions by academics as well as practitioners, this volume offers unique insights into these recursive bargaining processes. Providing useful generic lessons concerning verification, the role of non-state actors and the training of negotiators, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in arms control and multilateral negotiations.’ CHRISTER JÖNSSON, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden

Banning the ban or the bomb is the result of a research project of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program of the Clingendael Institute and is published by Cambridge University Press. It can be ordered here: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/banning-bang-or-bomb-negotiating-nuclear-test-ban-regime

About the editors:

MORDECHAI MELAMUD is a retiree of the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO and is an associate member of the PIN group. He was formerly a research physicist with a Ph.D. in experimental physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science.

PAUL MEERTS is a Senior Research Associate at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.

I. WILLIAM ZARTMAN is Emeritus Professor of International Organization and Conflict Resolution at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.