Source: ICNND Research Paper

A willingness by nuclear-armed states to make binding commitments to move to a Vantage Point—a position of deep reductions in nuclear weapons—from which abolition can be envisaged, mapped and navigated, would begin to restore confidence in the nuclear order. It is a necessary condition for enlisting non-nuclear-weapon states in the cooperation needed to avert crisis and strengthen the nuclear order. Moreover, constructing such a Vantage Point would in and of itself enhance global security because each of its elements would reduce the salience of nuclear weapons, the risks of nuclear war and terrorism, and the probability of proliferation, while increasing the prospects that nuclear energy can be distributed to enhance global development.

It is also a realistic approach for nuclear disarmament in that a nuclear-weapon-free world would have another set of dangers than the one we now inhabit. In eliminating nuclear weapons, and therefore reducing the likelihood of a nuclear war, we also, at the same time, wish also to reduce the likelihood of war per se. A more stable world, in which conflict resolution mechanisms can be made to work, in which the threat level against states and peoples is reduced, is going to pave the way for nuclear disarmament and war prevention. Power imbalances will have to be addressed as will other types of security assurances—ones that may indeed provide far greater reassurance than the nuclear umbrella—in which faith has been diminishing significantly since the end of the cold war.