Speaker
Description
Joe Biden’s election victory offers a potentially historic opportunity for test-ban advocates to push for US Ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This paper makes a case that President-elect Biden, a prominent advocate of the treaty over the past two decades, can accomplish this goal by following these four specific policy recommendations: (a) the President should pitch nuclear testing ban as an issue of national security in the US, which can help prevent it from becoming a victim of partisan politics; (b) the President can help spread scientific knowledge about the security benefits of this treaty in order to sway public opinion in favor of ratification; (c) the President can work to build bipartisan support in US Senate, addressing the concerns of the treaty’s opponents from the Republican party. And once the US ratifies the treaty, (d) President Biden can help set in motion a good domino effect, pushing many other states – including China, India, and Pakistan – to ratify the treaty. Building on knowledge from other arms control agreements, this paper shows how taking these steps will pave the way for the treaty’s entry into force.
Promotional text
This paper contributes to the SnT 2021 objectives by showing how a combination of scientific knowledge and political cooperation can help make US ratification of the CTBT possible in the next four years.
