Obstacles to understanding the emergence and significance of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Author(s): John Borrie, Michael Spies, and Wilfred Wan

In: Global Change, Peace & Security, Vol 30, No 2, 2017, pp. 95-119

The article examines accidentally the emergence of the TPNW, including how, and to what degree, efforts to alter states’ framing of nuclear weapons have influenced the treaty’s emergence and negotiation. It also examines the humanitarian perspective on the consequences of nuclear weapons, the activities of ICAN and the role played by transnational institutions like the UN and the Red Cross Movement to highlight lessons and limits on transnational advocacy network models of norm emergence.