In the more than sixty years since the advent of nuclear weapons, there has been little meaningful progress toward nuclear disarmament. Some countries have nuclear weapons, while other states are forbidden to acquire them, a status quo that lacks rational basis and cannot be sustained. In this remarkable collection, scholars and policy analysts argue that humankind has a choice: either allow nuclear weapons to continue to proliferate throughout the world or move toward their complete elimination.

List of Acronyms I. The Challenge of Abolition 1. The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons David Krieger 2. Abolition of Nuclear Weapons: Political Apathy and a Possible Way Ahead Laxminarayan Ramdas 3. Abandoning Disarmament? The New Nuclear Nonproliferation Paradigms Wade L. Huntley II. Historical Perspectives 4. Roots of the Upcoming Nuclear Crisis Daniel Ellsberg 5. The Relationship between Nuclear Disarmament and Nuclear Nonproliferation Sverre Lodgaard III. The Role of International Law 6. International Law, Nuclear Weapons, and Twenty-First Century Insecurity Ved P. Nanda 7. Nuclear Weapons and Future Justice David Krieger IV. Obstacles to Abolition 8. Putting Nuclear Weapons in Context: The Hidden Architecture of U.S. Militarism Jacqueline Cabasso 9. The New U.S. Doctrine of Preemptive Warfare and Its Implications for Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament Erika Simpson 10. The United States and the Undermining of the Nonproliferation Regime Stephen Zunes V. The Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World 11. A Nuclear Weapons Convention: Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World Jurgen Scheffran 12. The Case for a Nuclear Weapons Convention Ronald McCoy VI. Citizen Empowerment 13. Overcoming the Politics of Fear: Citizen Empowerment and the Abolition of NuclearWeapons Kevin P. Clements 14. A World Free of Nuclear Weapons Douglas Roche VII. Beyond Abolition 15. Sovereignty in a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Douglas B. Shaw 16. Nuclear Disarmament and General and Complete Disarmament Randy Rydell Appendices Appendix A. Confronting the Desire to Arm: Josei Toda's Declaration for the Abolition of NuclearWeapons Tatsushi Arai Appendix B. Remember Your Duty to Humanity: Joseph Rotblat and Nuclear Weapons Abolition David Krieger Appendix C. Thirteen Practical Steps for Nuclear Disarmament (Excerpt from the Final Document of the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference) Contributors Index