Energy and Security Concerns in the Atlantic Community by Werner J. Feld

Author:Werner J. Feld [Feld, Werner J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Western, Europe
ISBN: 9780813302058
Google: RRXezAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 2390407
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1985-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Political Organization

The antinuclear weapons movement is amorphous, broad, and decentralized. There is no formal organizational structure but, rather, a loosely joined network that includes all levels and sectors of the world system. At the international level, for example, the United Nations has been an important actor in the attempt to limit nuclear weapons. A number of UN Secretaries General have made public statements and undertaken various sorts of more private activities. The UN Secretariat and General Assembly include centers, departments, commissions, and committees concerned with arms control questions. For example, table 3.2 outlines disarmament items that were considered by the First Committee of the 38th General Assembly. In addition, the General Assembly has held two Special Sessions on Disarmament.

Other international nongovernmental organizations have also contributed to the limitation of nuclear weapons. For example, the International Atomic Energy Agency monitors the spread of nuclear materials; the Western European Union oversees the special restrictions on the Federal Republic of Germany; UNESCO has undertaken a number of meetings and publications dealing with questions of peace and arms control.

At the national level, various governments have also supported the general limitation of nuclear weapons. Nonnuclear governments such as Sweden and Mexico have supported UN resolutions aiming to freeze nuclear weapons capabilities. Nuclear governments as well have also been active. Thus, India has favored UN nuclear freeze resolutions. The Soviet Union and WTO nations supported these resolutions, but voted against a resolution supporting investigation into the use of poisonous gases and bacteriological weapons in warfare.

Various governments have aided popular movements for the limitation of nuclear weapons outside their own borders. The Soviet Union, some Eastern European countries, and Third World nations such as Libya have allegedly helped the Western European antinuclear weapons movement. The United States and some Western European governments, in turn, support political and religious dissidents who form an important part of the Eastern European antinuclear weapons movement.

Table 3.2 Disarmament Items

The provisional agenda of the 38th General Assembly lists the following disarmament items to be considered by the First Committee:

- Implementation of General Assembly resolution 37/71 concerning the signature and ratification of Additional Protocol I of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (Treaty of Tlatelolco) (resolution 37/71 of 9 December 1982).

- Cessation of all test explosions of nuclear weapons: report of the Committee on Disarmament (resolution 37/72 of 9 December 1982).

- Urgent need for a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty: report of the Committee on Disarmament (resolution 37/73 of 9 December 1982).

- Implementation of the Declaration on the Denuclearization of- Africa (resolutions 37/74 A and B of 9 December 1982): report of the Secretary-General (resolution 37/74 B).

- Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East: report of the Secretary-General (resolution 37/75 of 9 December 1982).

- Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in South Asia: report of the Secretary-General (resolution 37/76 of 9 December 1982).

- Prohibition of the development and manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons (resolutions 37/77 A and B of 9 December 1982): report of the Committee on Disarmament (resolution 37/77 A).

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