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The humanitarian turn in nuclear disarmament and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Author: Rebecca Gibbons

In: The Nonproliferation Review, Vol 25, No 1-2, 2018, pp. 11-36

On July 7, 2017, at the UN General Assembly, 122 states voted to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the culmination of pressure from a global network of states and grassroots activists. This article traces the history of the ban movement from 2005.  It identifies six factors that led to the successful adoption of the treaty: a small group of committed diplomats; an influx of new coalition members; the contribution of civil society; the reframing of the narrative surrounding nuclear weapons; the pursuit of a simple ban treaty; and the context provided by the Barack Obama Administration.