President Barack Obama began his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on December 10th with an acknowledgment of the controversy of his selection stating, "I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage."
We must concede that rhetoric along with action, in particular in the area of nuclear weapons, played a key role in his selection. Indeed, the Nobel Committee’s press statement upon the award's announcement stated right away that they “attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.” This is not especially surprising as Norway's Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, has been very vocal in advocating a push for “global zero,” and Norway has long had progressive policy in this area.
Obama, rather stridently, has consistently inserted the rhetoric of a nuclear-weapons-free world into all of his major foreign policy speeches, and he has provided an expectation that he will work earnestly toward this aim. Given that Ronald Reagan at Reykjavik in 1986 nearly concluded an agreement during the Cold War that would have abolished nuclear weapons within several decades, it is not fantastic to imagine that a current American President could take concrete steps that might move this vision toward reality.
In the acceptance speech, Obama mentioned his strategic arms negotiations with Russia as evidence of commitment to the vision. And he stated that upholding the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which compels states with nuclear weapons to work toward disarmament, is “a centerpiece of [his] foreign policy.”
Yet, advocates of the elimination of nuclear weapons as a real, tangible goal must encourage the administration to take other immediate and specific actions specifically associated with eventual elimination. In April 2010, the Nuclear Nonproliferaion Treaty will have a critical review conference in New York City, and organizations like the Project for Nuclear Awareness will be present. There will be significant international pressure by non-nuclear-weapons states for more action, and this be would an ideal occasion for Obama’s supporters to encourage concrete steps.
As advocated by Barry Blechman, Max Kampelman, and others, these steps could include:
- 1. A funded international program that would initiate cooperative research into verification technologies and enforcement strategies that would be required in a world of “global zero.”
2. The initiation of an international audit of all existing nuclear weapons and material.
3. Sponsorship of initial discussions on a timeline for negotiations and targets involved in the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
The main intellectual thrust of the acceptance speech was that idealism and realism can be melded. We can still be realist and reasonably cautious while concretely advancing idealist aspirations. Hence, support for even initial steps toward the vision of global zero would demonstrate that Obama’s rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons indeed warranted the admiration that led to the Nobel Prize bestowal.
About the Author
Todd Fine developed and established the "Global Zero" campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons as a Program Officer at the World Security Institute in Washington, D.C. He worked to create the core branding and policy positions of the campaign and helped co-produce an associated film on nuclear weapons with Lawrence Bender and Participant Media, the same team that made An Inconvenient Truth. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and holds a master's degree in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He has written articles on nuclear weapons for diverse journals and magazines.
