Preface
This book presents the results of the Advanced Research Workshop ‘Priorities in Nuclear Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: Comparing and Tuning Approaches of Russia and the West’, held in Moscow, April 2007. Co-hosted by the Center for Political and International Studies (Moscow) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (Oslo), the workshop was sponsored by the NATO Science Programme. International organizations participating in the convening of the workshop included the International Federation for Peace and Conciliation, the non-governmental scientific network Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and the Russian Political Science Association.
The Organizing Committee included such experts as Vladimir Baranovsky, Deputy Director, Institute for World Economy and International Relations (Russia); Sverre Lodgaard, Director, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI); Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, Secretary General, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs; Alexander Nikitin, Director, Center for Euro-Atlantic Security of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (Russia); and Morten Bremer Mærli, Senior Research Fellow, NUPI. The Organizing Committee focused on bringing to the workshop not only academic experts, but also practitioners from NATO HQ, from the US State Department, and from key Russian bodies (the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the State Federal Agency on Nuclear Power ‘RosAtom’). Additional perspectives were provided by invited arms control experts from around the world.
Among research institutes, priority was given to ensuring the representation of major international 'think tanks'. These included the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS, London), the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI, Stockholm), the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (Moscow), the Institute of the USA and Canada Studies (Moscow) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI, Oslo). A comprehensive international team of experts took part at the workshop: a total of 47 specialists from 14 countries and five international organizations. Speakers were asked to prepare and present written papers on relevant topics. Papers were distributed amongst participants, and later updated on the basis of workshop discussions.
The workshop facilitated the intensive exchange of information and views. Moreover, it provided a viable (and perhaps increasingly important) platform for better understanding and mutual tuning of Russian and Western approaches to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime, responding to situations like those in Iran and North Korea, synchronizing priorities in the elimination of excessive fissile materials, and, most of all, in the preservation of existing and the development of new agreements in nuclear arms control and nuclear disarmament.
An important aspect of this and similar fora is raising awareness of the current crisis in nuclear arms control. Such international, inter-agency and cross-cultural dialogue provides an opportunity for maintaining the wide-ranging dialogue required for strengthening arms control arrangements – and for establishing new ones with clearly defined and measurable scopes and verification systems.
In this regard, the need for pragmatism and flexibility was acknowledged by Western and Russian workshop participants alike, who also stressed the need to uphold a genuine commitment to international law. Special thanks are to be extended to Julia Starilova, Adelina Akhmetzyanova, and Eugenia Andryushina, for the way organizational matters where handled in conjunction with the Workshop. Maria Suhanova, Oksana Novikova, and Maria Mukhina skillfully translated Russian chapters into English, and Susan Høvik and Liv Høivik provided swift and precious copy-editing and lay-out assistance during the preparation of the book.
Alexander I. Nikitin and Morten Bremer Mærli,
Workshop Co-Directors
loading subjects...
