Sixty years after the dawn of the nuclear age and in view of the 2005 NPT Review Conference, the governance of nuclear weapons is an issue that merits being revisited. While in the international realm this is a well covered topic, the same could not be said about the domestic level, i.e., the governance of nuclear weapons in nuclear weapon states. Based on the preliminary results of a DCAF research project, this conference will take up this issue. Applying a security sector governance perspective, it aims at broadening the debate on the accountability of nuclear weapons beyond the traditional ‘command and control’ approach. The main issue at stake is how nuclear weapon countries (both democratic and non-democratic) balance the need for the usability and security of nuclear weapons with the need for political accountability. Experts compare the governance of nuclear weapons in the three major recognized nuclear weapon states, namely the U.S., Russia and China, as well as in the three de facto nuclear weapon states Israel, India and Pakistan.
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