Introduction: the nuclear ban treaty as negation of negation

ABSTRACT

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted by 122 states in July 2017, answers to at least two key demands. First, the treaty codifies its supporters’ aspiration to disturb the hegemonic nuclear discourse and galvanise nuclear disarmament processes. Second, the TPNW constitutes a symbolic response to the perceived failure of the established nuclear powers to live up to their Non-Proliferation Treaty disarmament commitments. As such, the TPNW constitutes a ‘negation of negation’ that transforms the nature of the global nuclear hierarchy.

KEYWORDS:

• Nuclear disarmament
• Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
• nuclear discourse
• hegemony

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Kjølv Egeland

Kjølv Egeland completed his DPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford in February 2018. His thesis, ‘The Road to Prohibition: Nuclear Hierarchy and Disarmament, 1968–2017’, explores the evolution of the institutional architecture for multilateral nuclear disarmament. He is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of International Law (NAIL).