European Union and the Nuclear Weapons Proliferation

Kostić Šulejić, Marina and Šorović, Mira and Nakhavali, Miad (2026) European Union and the Nuclear Weapons Proliferation. The Review of International Affairs, 77 (1197). pp. 365-412. ISSN 0486-6096

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Abstract

The authors explore the driving forces behind the EU’s nonproliferation policies toward existing proliferation cases and crises (India, Pakistan, North Korea, and the Middle East) and answer the question of why the EU’s non-proliferation policy diverges in these cases. The main hypothesis is that there are inconsistencies in the EU’s approach to the proliferation crisis, mainly because its policy is three-layered rather than purely normative or regime-type-dependent. The authors claim that it depends first on the preservation of the NPT regime and the UN SC resolution on the issue. But, secondly, in the absence of such a resolution, the regional and internal EU dimensions that matter. The article is based on the document analysis of the EU strategies, resolutions, cooperation agreements, joint declarations and actions. Then the authors use the qualitative comparative analysis of EU policies and measures toward the specific cases of countries that proliferated nuclear weapons or are accused of violating the NPT. The authors conclude that the EU approach prefers the multilateral UN-centred solutions, diplomacy and financial support, where it can act as a preventive actor, but that, in the cases of its absence and military counter-proliferation efforts, the EU stance becomes more divided and pragmatic depending on the regional security dynamics and the impacts the countries involved in crisis have on the EU.

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