In July 2017, 122 states voted to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The new treaty prohibits the possession of nuclear weapons. Hailed by disarmament advocates as an important step in creating a global norm against nuclear weapons, the treaty is largely rejected by nuclear-armed states. This talk will chronicle the development of the TPNW and then explore the ways in which the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom have sought to undermine this treaty and the movement behind it.

Rebecca Davis Gibbons

Rebecca Davis Gibbons is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom and International Security Program. She is an assistant professor at the University of Southern Maine and previously served as a visiting assistant professor of government at Bowdoin College, teaching courses on nuclear issues, international relations, and international order. Gibbons earned her PhD in international relations from Georgetown University. Her dissertation examined how the United States persuaded other states to join the nuclear nonproliferation regime. Her research continues to focus on nonproliferation as well as on the movement to prohibit nuclear weapons. In 2013–2014, Gibbons was a predoctoral Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the RAND Corporation. She holds an M.A. in international security studies from Georgetown University and a BA in psychological & brain sciences from Dartmouth College. After college, she taught elementary school within the Bikini community on Kili Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Rebecca Davis Gibbons

    • Alumni

    Rebecca Davis Gibbons

    Rebecca Davis Gibbons

    • Former Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
    • Former Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program, 2018–2020
    Expertise:
    Current Affiliation:
    Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Southern Maine