Is Nuclear Non-proliferation Utopian?

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Is Nuclear Non-proliferation Utopian?

Nuclear nonproliferation cannot be considered utopian since we know what can and should be done to achieve it. The harder question, however, is whether we can muster the political will to create the necessary geo-political and security conditions to achieve common nonproliferation goals.

By Pierre Goldschmidt

Published on Jun 2, 2010

Source: Paper prepared for the European Nuclear Conference

"Utopian" refers to a concept or an endeavour that seems ideal, but is unattainable in the real world. Nuclear nonproliferation cannot be considered utopian since we know what can and should be done to achieve it. The harder question, however, is whether we can muster the political will to create the necessary geo-political and security conditions to achieve common nonproliferation goals. The vision and new impetus brought by President Barack Obama is a formidable opportunity to make real and immediate progress in preventing vertical and horizontal proliferation, which are interlinked and must be tackled simultaneously.

About the Author

Pierre Goldschmidt

Former Nonresident Senior Associate, Nuclear Policy Program

Goldschmidt was a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment.

Recent Work

Article
A Realistic Approach Toward a Middle East Free of WMD
- Pierre Goldschmidt
Article
Serious Deficiencies Exposed by Latest IAEA Safeguards Implementation Report
- Pierre Goldschmidt

Nuclear Policy North America United States Caucasus Russia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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