Critical Issues Forum (CIF) 2008-2009

"Nuclear Disarmament:

Challenges, Opportunities and Next Steps"

Introduction:

It has been over 60 years since the only use of nuclear weapons. It has also been over 60 years since the United Nations General Assembly started the Atomic Energy Commission. Although the Atomic Energy Commission called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, many countries have developed, or tried to develop, these weapons. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a major nuclear arms race. Great Britain, France, and China developed nuclear weapons. Other countries launched nuclear-weapons programs.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear weapons (NPT) reduced the proliferation of nuclear weapons somewhat in 1968. After that, many countries gave up their nuclear weapons programs. Other countries decided not to start programs. Still, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons today. North Korea tested a nuclear weapon in 2006. There is concern that Iran might be developing a nuclear weapon.

The Cold War ended almost 20 years ago, but there are still 20,300 nuclear weapons in stockpiles around the world. 10,300 of these weapons are deployed.

People have different opinions about the progress of nuclear disarmament. Some people say the rate is too slow. They say the countries with nuclear weapons are not fulfilling their promises under Article VI of the NPT. However, the United States and the Soviet Union (Russia) have decreased their weapons from 70,000 during the Cold War to about 20,000 today. They have done this partly through negotiated agreements and unilateral actions. Some specialists say these two countries still have more nuclear weapons than they need.

There are two treaties in force at the moment. One is the 1991 START I (Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty). It expires in December 2009. The other is the 2002 Moscow Treaty. It will reduce the weapons of the US and Russia to 1,700-2,200 by the year 2013. START I allows a higher limit than the Moscow Treaty 6,000 warheads). It is still effective, however, because it includes verification and a way for the two countries to exchange information. The Moscow Treaty does not have these two provisions. The two countries have agreed to negotiate a new treaty in the near future.

There are other countries that have nuclear weapons, but they are still not part of the nuclear arms reduction treaties. Some of these countries have made reductions unilaterally. The United Kingdom reduced its nuclear weapons from around 350 to 160. France reduced its weapons from around 550 to fewer than 300. However, there are reports that China is increasing and modernizing its nuclear weapons. There are also some “unofficial” nuclear weapons countries that are not members of the NPT. They are still building nuclear weapons as well.

Despite the difficulties, many governments and groups of citizens have worked on plans to promote nuclear disarmament. Recently, the topic has been re-energized. This started when former top U.S. officials called for new public debate. On January 4, 2007, The
Wall Street Journal, reported that these officials wanted to make the U.S. and foreign governments develop a vision and take steps toward a nuclear weapon-free world.
In addition, other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan, have taken initiatives in disarmament efforts. (Additional reference)

A big part of those proposals is involving the leaders of nuclear countries to create momentum for nuclear disarmament. Some nuclear weapons countries such as Russia, France and United Kingdom have recently elected new leaders. The United States
has had elections. The change of U.S. presidency could bring a big change in U.S. nuclear weapons policy.

It is important for the next generation of leaders to develop their own vision of a future, safer world. The Critical Issues Forum (CIF) will focus the 2008-2009 program on nuclear disarmament. Students will examine this topic from the perspectives of CIF’s four content domains: scientific/environmental, social/cultural, economic, and political /geopolitical. They will use their research to come to their own opinions of the issues of nuclear disarmament in the world today.

The CIF topic for the 2008 - 2009 school year is "Nuclear Disarmament: Challenges, Opportunities, and Next Steps." Students will address the benchmarks for this topic from the following perspectives: scientific, environmental, political/geopolitical, economic, and social/cultural.

Student participants will create products for each of the three Benchmarks and make those products available on the CIF web site. These products may be in any format that can be posted to the web.

The CIF benchmarks for 2008 - 2009 are listed below. Click on each benchmark link to view the full set of objectives and the suggested activities. You can also obtain a Word or PDF version by clicking on that link at the end of each benchmark description.

Benchmark One: (due February 27 for US schools)

• In Benchmark I, in your investigations you will examine the objectives from the point of view of the scientific & environmental; social & cultural; economic; political & geopolitical domains to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of nuclear weapons in the world today.
• At the end of Benchmark I you will have created an original project, which demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of the objectives of this Benchmark. Your project will be your own work. When you refer to the work of others, you must have complete internal citations. You must have a bibliography of the resources you have cited. All work not your own, including photos, graphics, multimedia, charts, and graphs must be credited.
• You will need the knowledge you obtain in Benchmark I to investigate Benchmarks II and III.
• Make sure you carefully reference all materials you use in your text and in a bibliography. (Benchmark_I.pdf or Benchmark_I.doc)

Benchmark Two: (due March 31 for US schools)

• In Benchmark I, you examined the objectives from the point of view of the scientific & environmental; social & cultural; economic; political & geopolitical domains to gain a
  comprehensive understanding of nuclear weapons in the world today, their history, production, and countries and why.
• In Benchmark II, in your investigations you will apply what you have already learned, and you will examine the objectives from the point of view of the scientific & environmental; social & cultural; economic; political & geopolitical domains to gain a comprehensive understanding of past and current efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons including multilateral, bilateral and unilateral initiatives.
• At the end of Benchmark II you will have created an original project, which demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of the objectives of this Benchmark. Your project will be your own work. When you refer to the work of others, you must have complete internal citations. You must have a bibliography of the resources you have cited. All work not your own, including photos, graphics, multimedia, charts, and graphs must be credited.
• Make sure you carefully reference all materials you use in your text and in a bibliography. (Benchmark_II.pdf or Benchmark_II.doc)

Benchmark Three: (due May 22)

• In Benchmarks I and II you examined the objectives to gain a comprehensive understanding of nuclear weapons in the world today, their history, production, countries that possess them and why. You also gained a comprehensive understanding of past and current efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons including multilateral, bilateral and unilateral initiatives.
• In Benchmark III, in your investigations, you will synthesize and evaluate the information you have already gained. In addition you will do further research to create your own interpretations about world events and concerns. From your research you will make judgments and support those judgments with the knowledge you have gained.
• Your task is to clearly demonstrate, in a carefully constructed project, an understanding of one of the challenges related to nuclear weapons. Your project will address this challenge through as many of the CIF domains as possible (It is conceivable that some of the domains will not fit your chosen topic). The project must be your own work with clear and correct citations from any work borrowed from others. All work not your own, including photos, graphics, multimedia, charts, and graphs must be credited within your text and in a bibliography.
• Make sure you carefully reference all materials you use in your text and in a bibliography. (Benchmark_III.pdf or Benchmark_III.doc)

http://www.criticalissuesforum.org/bmks09.html
updated 09 February 2009