30 research outputs found
Introduction
No full textLaw is a fundamental component of disarmament. There is a complex web of international treaties, Security Council resolutions and soft law instruments that address the threat posed by weapons, an array of international institutions that work to regulate and eliminate weapons, and a steady stream of disarmament law crises that get aired in the media on a regular basis. Despite all this, in recent decades, the field of disarmament law has received relatively little attention from academics. There is limited discussion or debate about key disarmament law issues, and many issues are not addressed at all in the academic literature
'What's past is prologue': humanitarian disarmament from St Petersburg to New York
No full text© 2019 Dr. Treasa DunworthIn the past twenty years, the international community has agreed to bans on anti-personnel landmines, on cluster munitions and on nuclear weapons. In all these cases, claims of humanitarianism, understood here as a concern with human suffering, have taken centre-stage as the explanation for this success. Disarmament, it is said, is being driven now by ideas of human suffering rather than by national security perspectives.
The central claim of this thesis is that the humanitarian framing of arms control and disarmament is not a novel development, but rather represents a re-emergence of a much older and long-standing sensibility of humanitarianism in disarmament discourse. In other words, the thesis rejects the ‘big bang’ theory that presents the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention in 1997 as a creation moment: as a paradigm shift from an older, traditional state-centric approach towards a more progressive, humanitarian approach.
In challenging the creation myth of humanitarian disarmament, the aim is not to quibble about starting points. Rather, the challenge makes space for a more careful consideration of the meaning of ‘humanitarianism’ and ‘humanitarian disarmament’ including an acknowledgement of humanitarianism’s politics and complexities. The thesis argues that humanitarianism’s appeal lies in part at least in the ideal of an apolitical framework for disarmament - humanitarianism appears to be cleansed of all politics and thus has a moral simplicity. However, the thesis shows that far from being apolitical, humanitarianism generally, and humanitarian disarmament in particular, carry with them their own political agendas.
Challenging the creation myth also allows the complex reality of humanitarian disarmament to emerge. The thesis reveals how there has not been a steady, progressive infusion of humanitarian ideals into the thinking about and practice of arms control. Rather, there have been periods when humanitarianism seemed to have greater traction, only to be side-lined. Further, taking a broad view, it can be seen that over time, there have been many failures as well as successes.
Finally, this longer story paves the way for attention to be paid to other discourses that emerged (particularly during the Cold War) and were an important part of the overall disarmament discourse, but have been neglected. These include a human rights framework, a human security analysis, and ideas based on democracy. The thesis concludes that while humanitarianism has been an important feature of disarmament discourse historically, it does not have the radical potential that these other relatively neglected discourses offer, notwithstanding humanitarian disarmament’s more recent flourishing
An Examination of Outer Space Activities and Technology through the Common Heritage of Mankind Principle: The Need for an International Regulatory System
No full textOuter space is becoming increasingly more dangerous and will continue to pose a threat to security
and sustainability measures, both in outer space and here on Earth, unless the international
community takes immediate and further action to regulate and manage the area. This paper
explores the various threats and risks of harm that the unique environment of outer space presents
to all of humankind. It does this through a lens of outer space as a global commons, arguing that
it should be respected and regulated as such. More specifically, this paper relies on the Common
Heritage of Mankind (“CHM”) principle as a standard for the global commons status. After an
evaluation of the CHM principle standard, it is the opinion of this paper that existing law and
regulation pertaining to outer space activity is not sufficient to address the complexities and
challenges present in outer space because it is outdated, not flexible enough to accommodate the
rapid advancements in technology required for outer space activities and represents a haphazard
application of law created for a terrestrial environment. This paper recommends that outer space
should be afforded its own efficient, adaptable, and appropriately tailored area of law, overseen
and managed by an international regulatory system specific to outer space
Challenging War Traditions: Small and Middle Power States and the Emergence of the Nuclear Prohibition Treaty
No full textThesis embargoed until 03/202
