Nuclear Club Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The term nuclear club is used in various ways. Before 1970, any state that developed nuclear weapons was considered a member of the nuclear club. Since the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) came into effect in 1970, the term has been used to refer to the nuclear states acknowledged by the treaty. Because a number of states obtained nuclear weapons after 1970, there is now a gulf between the members of the nuclear club authorized by the NPT and the group of states that possess nuclear weapons. India has especially challenged the fact that it has been excluded from the club.

According to the NPT, the only legal nuclear weapons states are those that had declared nuclear programs when the treaty was written in 1968, namely the United States (which developed nuclear weapons in 1945), Russia (1949), the United Kingdom (1953), France (1964), and China (1964). All other state parties to the treaty agreed to pursue nuclear programs only for energy, not for weapons (NPT 1968, Articles II and IV). In exchange, the five existing nuclear states promised under Article VI to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to . . . nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”

Since 1970, a number of states have developed or otherwise obtained nuclear weapons, including Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Of those, only North Korea was ever a party to the NPT. North Korea ratified the treaty in 1985 but withdrew in 2003 in response to U.S. allegations that it was enriching uranium for weapons use. In 2005, North Korea declared itself a nuclear weapons state. In October 2006, it conducted a nuclear test. In 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimated that North Korea had ten nuclear weapons and the capability to manufacture one per year.

In 1968, when the NPT was opened for signature, both Israel and India had made significant progress toward development of nuclear weapons. Neither signed the treaty. Pakistan, India’s rival, also abstained. In 1999, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated that Israel had approximately 70 nuclear weapons. In 2006, the NRDC estimated that India and Pakistan each had approximately 50 weapons.

Policymakers disagree about whether new nuclear states should be considered members of the nuclear club. In 1998, when India and Pakistan tested nuclear devices, U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright argued that neither was a club member. According to her, because their tests occurred after 1967, their nuclear weapons programs were illegitimate. By contrast, Jaswant Singh, a senior Indian policy advisor, argued that “India is now a nuclear weapons state, as is Pakistan. That reality can neither be denied nor wished away. This category of ‘nuclear weapons state’ is not, in actuality, a conferment. Nor is it a status for others to grant. It is, rather, an objective reality.” In 2008, the United States took the latter view and lifted sanctions imposed on India after its first nuclear test in 1974.

Despite frequent discussions in the United Nations General Assembly, no progress has been made on general and complete nuclear disarmament. According to many observers, this raises questions about the legitimacy of the arsenals of the original five nuclear weapons states.

Bibliography:

Albright, Madeleine K. “Press Remarks on India and Pakistan.” Federation of American Scientists, FAS News, June 3, 1998. www.fas.org/news/ india/1998/06/980603-ma.html
Baker, Peter. “Senate Approves Indian Nuclear Deal.” New York Times. October 2, 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/washington/02webnuke.html.
Baldwin, Hanson W. “Growth of Nuclear ‘Club:’ Events of Next Six Weeks May Decide Which States Will Wield Atom Power.” New York Times. November 11, 1960.
Charbonneau, Louis. “U.N.’s Ban Urges Disarmament Steps by Nuclear Powers.” Reuters. October 24, 2008. http://uk.reuters.com/article/ idUKTRE49N8DF20081024.
Cohen, Avner, and Thomas Graham, Jr. “An NPT for Non-members.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 60:3 (May/June 2004): 40–44. International Atomic Energy Agency. www.iaea.org.
Natural Resources Defense Council. “Nuclear Notebook: Global Nuclear Stockpiles, 1945–2006.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 62, no. 4 (July/ August 2006): 64–67. Singh, Jaswant. “Against Nuclear Apartheid.” Foreign Affairs 77, no. 5 (September/October 1998): 41–52.
United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs. Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). 1968. http://disarmament.un.org/wmd/npt/npttext.html.

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