Revisiting the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the lead-up to the Tenth Review Conference

Abstract

This paper analyses the current status of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons on the eve of the Tenth Review Conference, scheduled for 2020 and postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Analyzing its structure, content and enforcement mechanisms makes it possible to assess the state of the NPT and to conclude what are the main challenges it faces today, more than half a century after its adoption. While the nuclear regime's reference treaty continues to face several of the challenges that have marked the debates surrounding it in its first 50 years - the criticism of its undemocratic character, the lack of compliance with disarmament commitments by the nuclear-weapon states or the vagueness of certain treaty provisions- it must also face new and complex obstacles - mainly marked by the current and evolving international nuclear landscape. Although tensions have worsened since the previous Review Conference in 2015, the next one, scheduled for January 2022, could be a catalyst for bridging positions, highlighting what has been achieved, unify positions, and fully legitimizing, once again, the structure, objectives, and content of which is still considered the cornerstone of the international nuclear regime.