Abstract
It is good to be home among so many friends at the American Enterprise Institute ("AEI"). I am particularly happy that Jeremy Rabkin and AEI have just published The Case for Sovereigno: Why the World Should Welcome American Independence. I congratulate him on his far-reaching analysis, in which he reinforces that security remains the core responsibility of sovereign states. I thought it would be useful today to look at our nonproliferation policy in this context, and the degree to which the Bush Administration has launched initiatives that work cooperatively with other sovereign states to deny rogue nations and terrorists access to the materials and know-how needed to develop weapons of mass destruction ("WMD")-this rather than by relying on cumbersome treaty-based bureaucracies to achieve these goals. Our policies during the past several years have shown that a robust use of the sovereign authorities that we, and our allies, have at our disposal can bring about real results. Methodically, piece by piece, the Administration is reinventing the nonproliferation regime it inherited, crafting policies to fill gaping holes, reinforcing earlier patchwork fixes, assembling allies, creating precedents, setting new limits, and changing perceived realities and stilted legal thinking. And the Administration is still building. To this President must go the credit for many long-delayed but indispensable actions to reverse our slide into helpless gridlock and inaction.
Recommended Citation
Bolton, John R.
(2005)
"The Bush Administration's Forward Strategy for Nonproliferation,"
Chicago Journal of International Law:
Vol. 5:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol5/iss2/4