In light of increasing volatility in the global order, the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security recently adopted 72 texts on a wide array of global issues. One of the key issues was the implementation of nuclear disarmament by all concerned states and mitigating the impact of autonomous weapon systems. Broadly these 72 measures call for a return to multilateralism and finding consensus, a concept that seems increasingly elusive in current global politics.

The global nuclear order is in crisis. Escalating nuclear threats from Russia; the rapid increase in instances of testing of nuclear-capable delivery systems by North Korea, China, and India; and the crumbling arms control architecture in the U.S. and Russia, and its complete absence in regions such as South Asia are worrying trends that can be attributed to a lack of political and legal consensus on crucial issues among key stakeholders. This absence of a consensus exists on three levels: between the nuclear and non-nuclear armed states; among the great nuclear powers or the Permanent Five (P5); and finally, between the P5 and the regional nuclear armed as well as nuclear threshold states. There are also rising uncertainties around the use of emerging and disruptive technologies within this arena especially with regards to what they constitute and how their use should be regulated within the rapidly changing security and strategic landscape of the ‘third nuclear age’.

What does a closer examination of these three levels of consensus deficit reveal about institutions that uphold the nuclear order? What challenges do they produce? And how can these challenges be resolved to create and maintain a peaceful and stable international order?

Dr. Shivani Singh is Senior Researcher with IPCS’ Nuclear Security Programme (NSP).