Global Non-Proliferation and Counter-Terrorism The Impact of UNSCR 1540

Adopted in April 2004, UN Security Council Resolution 1540 obliges all states to take steps to prevent nonstate actors, especially terrorist organizations and illicit traffickers, from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and related materials. The United Nations placed itself firmly at the center of one of the world's key international security challenges. Global Non-Proliferation and Counter-Terrorism brings together renowned scholars and policymakers to examine a wide range of new policy-related questions arising from the resolution's impact on the bioscientific community, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the IAEA, trade and customs, and counterproliferation initiatives such as the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The impact of 1540 goes beyond setting new legal requirements. It focuses on enforcement not only nationally but also internationally, pressing all states to place their own houses in order. Among the key questions is how the resolution will change the existing network of nonproliferation regimes. Will it merely reinforce requirements of the existing nonproliferation treaties? Or will it offer a legal framework for counterproliferation activities and other measures to enforce the nonproliferation network? This book provides an overview of the novel policy questions that UNSCR 1540's implementation and enforcement will offer for years to come.