State shaming and the social theory of peremptory norms in international law: the possibility of the prohibition of nuclear proliferation as a Jus Cogens norm
Cowell, Frederick (2021) State shaming and the social theory of peremptory norms in international law: the possibility of the prohibition of nuclear proliferation as a Jus Cogens norm. In: Maia, C. and Collin, J.-M. (eds.) Nuclear Weapons and International Law: Visions of a Plural World. Edições Universitárias Lusófonas. ISBN 9789897571626.
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Abstract
Peremptory norms in international law, often referred to as jus cogens, refers to practices, such as genocide, torture and slavery which the international community at large wishes to prevent. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is a practice that the international community at large sees an interest in preventing given the existence of the non-proliferation treaty and numerous UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on the subject. Yet, the proliferation of nuclear weapons or their acquisition is not necessarily considered jus cogens. Using recent constructivist accounts of jus cogens this chapter argues that nuclear proliferation raises questions separate from the prohibition of use of force which makes it analogous to the subject matter of other existing jus cogens norms.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Book synopsis: In a world affected by the Covid-19 global pandemic, where more financial resources would be needed for medicines instead of weapons, all nuclear States – whether parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or not, whether democratic or authoritarian regimes – keep modernising their nuclear arsenal. Despite this attitude, which highlights the crisis of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, since the launch of the “Humanitarian Initiative” in 2010, nuclear disarmament has been at the centre of the action of an increasing number of countries, with the strong support of NGOs. This phenomenon gave unprecedented visibility and significance to the topic, and allowed the entry into force in 2021 of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, in order to achieve their total elimination. These recent developments show that there are hopes and challenges in a pluralistic world where nuclear and non-nuclear weapons States continue to confront each other in this highly sensitive area. It is against this background that readers are offered a set of different perspectives on these weapons of mass destruction, authored by a multidisciplinary team of contributors from a wide array of geographical areas. |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Law School |
| Depositing User: | Frederick Cowell |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Mar 2022 13:41 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:41 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/22102 |
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