Unconventional partners : Australia–India cooperation in reducing nuclear dangers / Amandeep Gill and Rory Medcalf.

Unconventional partners : Australia–India cooperation in reducing nuclear dangers / Amandeep Gill and Rory Medcalf.

Sidney, Australia: Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2009.

English

16 p.

There is very little chance that the NPT can be amended or that India could join it in some manner. A universal Nuclear Weapons Convention which would permanently end the divide among NPT and non-NPT states is still not on the horizon. However, India’s unique nuclear history should allow for the possibility of pragmatic solutions to shared nuclear dangers. One such bridge – the civil nuclear understanding between India and the NSG – is under construction. Other bridges across the divide could be crafted from the issues of the prevention of nuclear terrorism and the security of nuclear facilities. President Obama’s call for a Global Summit on Nuclear Security offers an opportunity. Yet another, more ambitious, enterprise would be dialogue on nuclear doctrines, deployments, delegitimisation and disarmament. As dialogue and cooperation develop on some of these possible new approaches, it may become easier to overcome differences on more traditional arms control agenda items like an FMCT. One challenge will be to persuade all key countries to be willing to think anew about ways to reduce nuclear dangers and about the unconventional partnerships they may need to cultivate to get there. Australia and India have great potential as bridge-builders in a changing global arms control regime, even more so if they can begin bridging their own differences.

Electronic resource only

Electronic resource only