Article published by Daniel Rietiker in the Harvard International Law Journal, 8 December 2017 (online).

Success has become rare in the sensitive field of nuclear arms control. But what happened on 7 July 2017 at the United Nations in New York deserves to be remembered and analyzed because the adoption of a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons constitutes the end of a nearly 20-year period of stagnation on nuclear arms control. After biological (1972) and chemical weapons (1993), the last category of weapon of mass destruction (WMD) will be banned. However, there is considerable disagreement on the practical impact of the treaty for nuclear arms control, disarmament, and international security. This article contributes to the ongoing debate.To read the full article, click here.