Three Approaches toward a Nuclear-Free World

Abstract

Since President Obama＇s speech for a world without nuclear weapons in April 2009, arguments on how to get there have become popular among many experts. Recent arguments toward a nuclear-free world can be divided into three: first, a nuclear weapons convention, second, humanitarian nuclear disarmament and third, delegitimizing nuclear weapons. The purpose of this paper is to examine these three approaches toward a nuclear-free world by precisely surveying the historical background and the contents of each approach, to contend that these three approaches have their own merits and to recommend pursuing these three approaches simultaneously as they are interdependent and have synergistic effects.