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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Peace and Security in Northeast Asia
2018 Tokyo Colloquium on Building Stable Peace in Northeast Asia: Managing and Transforming Risks on the Korean Peninsula
Summary Report No.4 - February, 2018 • By
The 2018 Tokyo Colloquium brought regional experts on peace and security in Northeast Asia together with policymakers and civil society organisations from US, China, Korea and Japan to discuss how to ensure stable peace in Northeast Asia. It was jointly organised by Toda Peace Institute, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Zealand on 1 February. While identifying some of the forces generating insecurity, and turbulence in the region, the Colloquium had particular focus on ways in which existential nuclear threat in the Korean peninsula could be dealt with through preventive diplomacy, dialogue and negotiations and whether denuclearisation of DPRK is the prerequisite for achieving negotiated solutions. Two panels of influential experts and policy makers were organised to share their insights and wisdom on these questions.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Bridging the Gap Between Ban Treaty Supporters and Step-by-Step Approaches to Eliminating Nuclear Weapons
Summary Report No.3 - February, 2018 • By Kevin P. Clements
Effective verification will be absolutely essential to achieving nuclear disarmament. Developing effective verification may seem an impossible challenge, but there is substantial experience to build on, including IAEA safeguards and bilateral arms control processes. Examining the specific steps required to progress disarmament, we are not starting with a blank sheet, many verification missions are similar to those existing or under development today. International collaboration in developing new verification applications will contribute to the confidence and trust required to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Trump's Nuclear Posture Review: A New Rift between Europe and the US?
Policy Brief No.2 - February, 2018 • By Dick Zandee and Sico van der Meer
President Trump’s recent Nuclear Posture Review lays out important policy changes with regard to US nuclear weapons. It broadens the circumstances in which the US may use nuclear weapons and aims for the introduction of new types of ‘smaller’ nuclear weapons. Both intentions may contribute to lowering the threshold for nuclear weapons use and blur the difference between nuclear and conventional weapons. These changes have direct effects on NATO’s European member states and require an informed debate among policy makers as well as the general public in these states. This Policy Brief offers some considerations as input for such a debate.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Verifying the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Providing Assurance against Breakout
Policy Brief No.1 - February, 2018 • By John Carlson
Effective verification will be absolutely essential to achieving nuclear disarmament. Developing effective verification may seem an impossible challenge, but there is substantial experience to build on, including IAEA safeguards and bilateral arms control processes. Examining the specific steps required to progress disarmament, we are not starting with a blank sheet, many verification missions are similar to those existing or under development today. International collaboration in developing new verification applications will contribute to the confidence and trust required to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons.