The Origins of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime

This Special Issue focuses on the historical origins of the international edifice of laws, conventions, and norms that are nowadays referred to as the nuclear nonproliferation regime. It represents the first systematical archival-based attempt to enlighten the interests, policies, and ideas behind the emergence of the regime aimed at preventing a further global spread of nuclear weapons. Topics discussed in the forum are the negotiations for the NPT, the effect of the invention of gas centrifuge uranium enrichment on attempts to prevent proliferation, and the creation of the cartel of advanced nuclear states, the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Other contributions cover the strain in US-West German relations due to the latter’s intention to export sensitive nuclear technology to South America, and the various strategies of state actors in the Southern Cone to find regional alternatives to the global regime imposed by the superpowers.