On July 7, 2017, 122 states voted at the United Nations to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As of early 2019, there are 70 signatories and the treaty is seen as likely on track for a late 2019 or early 2020 entry-into-force. No nuclear weapon states participated in the talks leading to the treaty or in the vote, leading to suggestions the treaty is primarily a normative instrument aimed at delegitimizing nuclear weapons. Rather than see the treaty as an isolated legal instrument, this talk will offer a view on why and how the treaty could advance nuclear disarmament by contributing to the emergence of a new “regime complex” for disarmament. In particular, the talk will address what the state parties need to do to advance the treaty’s implementation, what relationships with the existing non-proliferation regime and other international institutions could usefully be developed, and what new structures may be needed to fulfill the treaty's core obligations.

Sébastien Philippe

Sébastien Philippe is a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. His research focuses on developing new verification technologies and approaches to support future nuclear arms control and disarmament efforts. In parallel, he pursues research interests on French nuclear policymaking as a visiting fellow with the Nuclear Knowledge Program at Sciences-Po Paris. Before his Stanton fellowship, Philippe was a postdoctoral research associate with Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security. He earned his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in June 2018 and was recognized by the University as the 2017–2018 Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellow for "outstanding performance and professional promise." From 2011–2012, he worked in the French Ministry of Defense, where he was a nuclear safety expert for the strategic submarine forces.