RMIT Scholar to Investigate Pathways to Nuclear Non-Proliferation

The RMIT University senior lecturer has won the prestigious scholarship to examine what a United States major investment in a modernised nuclear arsenal means for efforts to stop the spread of the deadly weapons across the globe.

As the Fulbright Scholar in Australia-US Alliance Studies he will be based at the leading Washington DC think tank, the Arms Control Association where he will look at the tensions between US nuclear force modernisation and the global non-proliferation regime.

Warren said that the issue was increasingly urgent for global security.

“Former U.S. President Barack Obama came into power and won a Nobel Peace Prize on the back of a promise for a nuclear-weapons free world,” Warren said. “But during his two terms the US has started down a path of making all its nuclear weapons more agile, more accurate, and more deadly.

“Coupled with President Donald Trump’s disdain for international treaties, this has the potential to negatively impact the positive role that the United States can and must play in moving toward a ‘world without nuclear weapons’ and sustaining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,  or NPT.

“To prevent a dangerous backslide, new scholarship will be critical for pushing back against unilateral U.S. actions that threaten future steps on arms control and for advancing policy options that prevent further fracturing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”