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Promoting an Agenda for Nuclear Weapons Elimination: The Canberra Commission and Dilemmas of Disarmament
Author(s) -
Hanson Marianne,
Ungerer Carl J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8497.00035
Subject(s) - disarmament , commission , political science , nuclear weapon , diplomacy , possession (linguistics) , negotiation , terrorism , nuclear terrorism , government (linguistics) , foreign policy , nuclear ethics , politics , public administration , law , political economy , international trade , sociology , business , philosophy , linguistics
This paper examines the role of the Canberra Commission in terms of consolidating and influencing the agenda on international negotiations towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Commission’s Report is significant for two main reasons. First, it represents a unique form of disarmament diplomacy by the Australian Government which combined the post‐Cold War international climate of security cooperation with the foreign policy aspirations of an activist middle power. Second, the Report refutes the strategic, technological and political arguments against nuclear elimination in a comprehensive and convincing manner, arguing that without elimination, the world faces increased threats of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. This paper thus concludes that the Canberra Commission has been instrumental in strengthening the taboo against the possession, testing or use of nuclear weapons.