Publications

Rightness, prestige, and a grain of securitisation: Saudi Arabia’s nuclear politics

The Stimson Center (3 March 2023)

Ludovica Castelli

Why does Saudi Arabia want to acquire the nuclear fuel cycle?

In January 2023, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced that, given a recent discovery of indigenous uranium reserves, the Kingdom intends to advance its plans to develop a front-end nuclear fuel-cycle infrastructure, with both a domestic and an international dimension. The Saudi minister specified that this might involve joint ventures with willing partners and that Saudi Arabia would comply with international standards of transparency.

His comments were not particularly surprising. At a meeting in 2022, bin Salman had stated that the Kingdom planned to exploit its vast uranium resources “in the most transparent way.” That did not prevent international concern from growing over Saudi intentions amid a regional context in which Iran is reported to be enriching uranium at ever-higher levels. 
Ludovica Castelli
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nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)'s
Review Conference - first session

23 January 2023

Olamide Samuel

With the eleventh Review Conference (RevCon) of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) slated for 2026, the first session of its Preparatory Committee will be held this year in Vienna. 

As the NPT cycle has been cut to four years instead of five due to pandemic-related delays, there is limited time for considered reflections on the ‘failure’ of the Tenth NPT RevCon to produce a final consensus document.

Given the prevailing international security environment, the near possibility of a ‘successful’ tenth RevCon was surprising. The Russian delegation’s last-minute decision to block consensus was equally surprising and ultimately led to the conference’s failure. 

Russia’s actions were especially disappointing, considering that numerous delegations were prepared to set aside their misgivings about the final document and join the consensus. With the exception of Russia, the symbolic importance of adopting a ‘middle-ground’ outcome document on the 50th anniversary of the treaty was widely understood to be of paramount importance.

Olamide Samuel
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Nuclear Strategy in the 21st Century: Continuity or Change?

Research Paper #27 by NATO Defense College

16 December 2022
Cameron Hunter

Dr Cameron Hunter has contributed an article, “Bernard Brodie’s strategic theory in the third nuclear age” to NATO Defense College’s 27th research paper entitled, “Nuclear Strategy in the 21st Century: Continuity or Change?“

Appearing first from six in the publication, Dr Hunter’s article explores three key points from Brodie’s most important text, “Strategy in the Missile Age”:

  1. The centrality of technology; 
  2. Nuclear strategy, speed, and precision;
  3. Data integration, sensors, and interceptors.

Dr Cameron Hunter
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Annual Youth Disarmament Essay Competition

Disarmament, Security and Development Nexus:
Compendium of UNIDIR Annual Youth Disarmament Essay Competition’s Best Essays

UNIDIR (December 2022)
Ludovica Castelli

The first annual UNIDIR Global Youth Disarmament Essay competition was launched in 2022, responding to the calls for giving a voice to young people on the connections between disarmament and development. The Republic of Korea generously supported this essay competition. The theme of the first UNIDIR Global Youth Disarmament Essay competition was the ‘Disarmament, Security and Development Nexus’. Students and young professionals aged between 18 to 29 years old were invited to submit an essay that explored one of the following areas:

• Disarmament, economic growth, and inequalities;
• Disarmament for sustainable cities;
• Innovative disarmament efforts in light of the 21st century’s environmental challenges;
• Gender mainstreaming for sustainable disarmament and development.

Ludovica Castelli
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Toward perpetual division

European leaders still use the tropes of barbarism and a chaotic global "jungle" while training young diplomats.

Inkstick (4 November 2022)
Ludovica Castelli

On Oct. 13, 2022, Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, gave a speech at the inauguration of the European Diplomatic Academy, a pilot program designed to train the next generation of European diplomats. Unity, firmness, and determination, he argued, are more necessary than ever in supporting today’s Ukrainian resistance against what is a collective threat and in shaping tomorrow’s new security order. In essence, Borrell’s speech was a call for the reinvigoration of the Kantian Europe, “a perpetually peaceful and cosmopolitan construction.” Indeed, in total Kantian fashion, Borrell argued, “Europe is a garden…and the rest of the world is not exactly a garden. The rest of the world…is a jungle.”

Ludovica Castelli
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Disruptive technology and nuclear risks

Survival 64:1 (2022)

Andrew Futter

Hype and fear have arisen about how certain technological developments are impacting the current nuclear order. New weapons systems and support facilities, potential vulnerabilities and associated destabilising dynamics could all place considerable strain on the global nuclear balance and accompanying architecture. This article examines five disruptive dynamics, explains their intricacies and nuances, and puts them in political and strategic context. The nature of nuclear risk is changing (in many cases for the worse), and there are a number of pressures which could have significant negative implications for escalation, stability and order if left unchecked. But these phenomena remain fundamentally political, and there are political mechanisms which can help reduce risks. Accordingly, while the risks posed by disruptive technologies to the nuclear order are real and growing, they should not be insurmountable.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00396338.2022.2032979


Professor Andrew Futter

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Travelling While Black

European Leadership Network (8 August 2022)

Olamide Samuel

A first-hand account of the restrictive visa system impacting diversity at nuclear policy conferences

As the 2022 NPT RevCon enters its second week in New York, there have been reports of its noticeable lack of diversity. Olamide Samuel gives a personal account of his efforts to secure an Austrian and US visa to attend nuclear policy conferences this summer and calls on conference organisers to pay attention to the visa regimes that pose logistical barriers to entry for people from the global south.

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Olamide Samuel

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Italy and the Nuclear Ban Treaty: A Hesitant Opening?

Istituto Affari Internazionali (16 June 2022)

Ludovica Castelli

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is the first legally binding international treaty whose aim is to ban nuclear weapons comprehensively. Substantially, it hinges on the lethal humanitarian and environmental impact of nuclear weapons and is thereby aimed at further stigmatising their use, including in the domain of nuclear deterrence.

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Ludovica Castelli

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Difficult Conversations: Fingers off the Button

University of Leicester Cntenary Event Series

Andrew Futter

On Thursday 5 May 2022, Prof Andrew Futter, Dr Cameron Hunter, Dr Olamide Samuel, Marion Messmer & Dr Matthew Bolton participated in the Difficult Conversation Series. ‘Fingers off the Button’ was the fourth installment of the series.

The panel primarily considered questions regarding nuclear weapons in the UK.  

View the recording of this session, by clicking the link below. 

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