Stigmatisation as a Road to Denuclearisation—The Stigmatising Effect of the TPNW

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this chapter is to consider the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as an international instrument that stigmatises nuclear weapons in various ways, and to analyse whether this endeavour will be successful and lead to global denuclearisation. The global nuclear order was established by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), but the issue has recently been reframed as a humanitarian one. The non-nuclear-weapon States have always outnumbered the nuclear-armed States, but they had never used their majority strategically. Fortunately, they were able to find common ground by reframing nuclear weapons as a humanitarian issue. This led to the forging of a coherent anti-nuclear-weapons coalition to counter the nuclear-armed States—the Humanitarian Impact Initiative—that ultimately led to the conclusion of the TPNW. The reframing of the nuclear issue and the TPNW stigmatise nuclear weapons as inhumane and abhorrent and thereby establishes an international norm which nuclear-armed States will find increasingly difficult to ignore. The road to stigma recognition can take place through international and domestic pressure that also depends on power dynamics. Nuclear-armed States can also manage the stigmatisation through stigma rejection and counter-stigmatisation, which they often do through reliance on the nuclear deterrence argument. The current security environment should not be taken as an argument in favour of nuclear deterrence but rather as an impetus for denuclearisation, and towards increased cooperation and peaceful negotiation.KeywordsHumanitarian Impact InitiativeNuclear WeaponsNuclear DeterrenceNuclear DisarmamentStigmatisationTreaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)