revistaieee7

Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 7 / 2016
THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
AS REGARDS DISARMAMENT AND NUCLEAR NON-
PROLIFERATION
INTRODUCTION
Nuclear non-proliferation has evolved as a consequence of the interaction of
many factors that vary from case to case. From 1998, the date that India and
Pakistan undertook their first nuclear tests, we have seen a reversal of this
trend, with the assertion of new nuclear powers and the appearance of new actors
outside of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while the first states to have
nuclear capacity have proceeded to modernise their nuclear capabilities, instead of
definitively getting rid of them. 1
The nuclear landscape has thus evolved in a negative sense in recent times. From
the five states that have traditionally possessed nuclear weapons, there are currently
nine recognised nuclear powers, 2 to whose ranks we should add a country with a nuclear
programme and suspected of harbouring military ambitions, Iran.
Given the current situation, it seems unlikely that this trend will change. On the contrary,
trade and energy rivalries, together with the increase in latent conflicts in different
regions of the world, are fuelling the nuclear ambitions of a number of countries. All of
this means that neither the nuclear states recognised in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, nor the new nuclear powers, would agree to surrender their arms capabilities.
This harsh reality makes it clear that nuclear disarmament is currently not a priority
for these states.
1 The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) was signed in 1968 and entered into force in 1970 and currently has 191 States Parties. NPT Review
Conferences take place periodically. See, for instance, GARRIDO REBOLLEDO, Vicente. ‘La
no proliferación y el desarme humanitario’, in Política Exterior, vol.29, no. 166, 2015, pp.40-52; and
AGUIRRE DE CÁRCER, Miguel, Los nuevos compromisos de desarme y no proliferación nuclear,
Working Papers, no. 31, Madrid: Elcano Royal Institute of International and Strategic Studies, 2010.
The traditional nuclear powers have pushed for regimes for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
with the twofold aim of avoiding the competition of other states in this field and the diffusion of dualuse
technologies, while at the same time attempting to maintain the strategic status quo that benefits
them and safeguards their status as international powers.
2 It is well known that there were five states that managed to achieve nuclear weapons first of all,
and they correspond to the permanent members of the UN Security Council -United States, Russia,
United Kingdom, France and China-, to which four new nuclear powers have been added, Israel,
India, Pakistan and North Korea.
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