Weapons of Mass Destruction and International Order

This Adelphi Paper argues that, instead of an imperious strategy focusing on counter-proliferation and the treat of preventive war, the recovery of order must entail the pursuit of international legitimacy as well as efficacy and it will require all states to accept restraint and to honour their mutual obligations.

---

First Published in 2005. How should the 'problem of order' associated with weapons of mass destrcution be understood and addressed today? Have the problem and its solution been misconceived and misrepresented, as manifested by the problematic aftermath of Iraq War? Has 9/11 rendered redundant past international ordering strategies, or these still discarded at our own peril? These are questions explored in this Adelphi Paper.