During the last couple of years, prominent policymakers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and elsewhere have advanced proposals on how the world could move toward a nuclear-weapons free future. These initiatives have attracted worldwide attention and considerable support, although also some reservations. They have sparked renewed debate on the desirability and feasibility of nuclear disarmament and the means to attain this goal. Several governments ranging from India to Norway to Russia have expressed their support for the idea, provided various conditions are met in the process.

Progress toward a world without nuclear weapons will be complicated and prolonged. To reach the goal, current methods of controlling both vertical and horizontal proliferation of nuclear weapons may have to be revisited. A key issue is how the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), a cornerstone of the global regime for controlling these weapons, relates to the aim of a nuclear-free world. This question will be a major consideration at the forthcoming NPT Review Conference that will take place at the United Nations in New York in May 2010