Challenges and Opportunities for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime

This chapter raises the following main points: The horizontal nuclear non-proliferation regime is comprised of a mutually supporting network of national and multilateral mechanisms.The non-proliferation regime is based on crucial norms of engagement, voluntarism and equality.Efforts to address horizontal nuclear non-proliferation are threatened by changing proliferation patterns, the changing nuclear supply environment, limited progress toward vertical nuclear non-proliferation, and the form taken by some post-Cold War horizontal nuclear non-proliferation initiatives.Recent developments are reducing the tension between horizontal and vertical nuclear non-proliferation, thereby contributing to the legitimacy of the horizontal non-proliferation regime.