Cette etude, completee d'une bibliographie, sur les efforts faits par les Nations Unies dans le domaine du desarmement est destinee a combler une lacune. En effet, malgre toute la documentation sur le travail des Nations Unies a cet egard, on ne trouve aucun resume objectif des propositions des differentes nations et des conclusions des deliberations qui se poursuivent depuis la creation des Nations Unies en 1945. En septembre 1956, l'Assemblee pleniere de la Federation Mondiale des Associations pour les Nations Unies adopta une resolution priant le Comite executif "d'examiner la possibilite de favoriser plus largement l'information et l'edu cation et de provoquer des etudes plus approfondies et des reunions d'etudes sur les differents aspects du probleme du desarmement". Pendant la periode 1956/57, le Comite executif accepta qu'une etude, completee par une biblio graphie, soit publiee sur cette question et M. Yves Collart, Assistant du Directeur de l'Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales de Geneve fut charge de la preparer. Cette etude a ete faite par M. COllart selon les directives generales de la Federation Mondiale des Associations pour les Nations Unies qui desirait notamment que les faits soient presentes de maniere aussi objective que possible. La respon sabilite de ce texte incombe a son auteur et non a la Federa tion. Les membres du Comite executif de la Federation furent neanmoins invites a faire par ecrit leurs remarques sur le premier projet de cette etude et M. Collart a tenu compte de leurs commentaires en redigeant le texte final.

Following the acquisition of the atomic bomb by five states, the United Nations began drafting several treaties to limit nuclear proliferation. These efforts failed, as four more states also acquired nuclear weapons. In a similar vein, an attempt to limit atomic weapons - primarily within the two superpowers - was initiated. While the number of weapons has decreased, the new bombs now being manufactured are more powerful and more precise, negating any reduction in numbers. In the field of civil nuclear use, all nuclear facilities (reactors, factories, etc.) have a limited lifespan. Once a plant is permanently shut down, these facilities must be decommissioned and dismantled. These operations are difficult, time-consuming and costly. In addition, decommissioning generates large volumes of radioactive waste of various categories, including long-lived and high-activity waste. Risks to the environment and to health are not negligible during decommissioning. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have produced numerous publications with recommendations. Each state has its own decommissioning strategy (immediate or delayed) and final plan for the site - whether it be returning it to greenfield status or obtaining a nuclear site license with centuries-long monitoring.

This book examines the issue of nuclear disarmament in different strategic, political, and regional contexts. This volume seeks to provide a rich theoretical and practical insight to one of the major topics in the field of international security: global abolishment of nuclear weapons. Renewed calls for a nuclear weapons-free world have sparked a wide academic debate on both the attainability of such goal and the steps that should be taken. Comparably less attention, however, has been paid to theoretically informed considerations of the consequences of nuclear abolition. Comprising essays from leading scholars and experts within the field, this collection discusses the fundamental theoretical and conceptual foundations of nuclear disarmament and subsequently tries to assess its hypothetical impact in global and regional contexts. The varied methodological approach of the contributors aims to advance a multi-theoretical and multi-perspectival view of the issue. The book is organized in three main sections: ‘Strategic Perspectives’, dealing with the specific constraints and facilitators for the states to achieve their core objectives; ‘Political Perspectives’, with the focus on the power of norms, belief-systems and ideas; and ‘Regional Perspectives’, with the analyses of seven regional and/or state-specific nuclear contexts. As a whole, the volume provides a detailed, complex overview of the risks and opportunities that are embedded in the vision of a nuclear weapon-free world. This book will be of great interest to students of nuclear proliferation, arms control, war and conflict studies, international relations and security studies.

Translated from the German by J.M. Toll." Bibliography: p. 97-99.