The humanitarian framing of disarmament is not a novel development, but rather represents a re-emergence of a much older and long-standing sensibility of humanitarianism in disarmament. The Book rejects the 'big bang' theory that presents the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention 1997, and its successors - the Convention on Cluster Munitions 2008, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2017 - as a paradigm shift from an older traditional state-centric approach towards a more progressive humanitarian approach. It shows how humanitarian disarmament has a long and complex history, which includes these treaties. This book argues that the attempt to locate the birth of humanitarian disarmament in these treaties is part of the attempt to cleanse humanitarian disarmament of politics, presenting humanitarianism as a morally superior discourse in disarmament. However, humanitarianism carries its own blind spots and has its own hegemonic leanings. It may be silencing other potentially more transformative discourses.

This volume seeks to start a revival of the field of disarmament law scholarship. Law is a fundamental component of disarmament, yet today, most perspectives on the wide range of disarmament issues that exist come primarily from political, diplomatic and public advocacy angles. The aim of this book is to revive the field of disarmament law building on earlier, important and still relevant contributions by international lawyers to the subject. The collection brings together international scholars on various aspects of disarmament. The contributions range across a variety of weapons types, adopt different approaches - doctrinal, historical and critical - to the issues being discussed and taken together, constitute a snapshot of the ideas, concerns and issues that currently occupy disarmament law scholars. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of disarmament.

This volume seeks to start a revival of the field of disarmament law scholarship. Law is a fundamental component of disarmament, yet today, most perspectives on the wide range of disarmament issues that exist come primarily from political, diplomatic and public advocacy angles. The aim of this book is to revive the field of disarmament law building on earlier, important and still relevant contributions by international lawyers to the subject. The collection brings together international scholars on various aspects of disarmament. The contributions range across a variety of weapons types, adopt different approaches - doctrinal, historical and critical - to the issues being discussed and taken together, constitute a snapshot of the ideas, concerns and issues that currently occupy disarmament law scholars. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of disarmament.

The humanitarian framing of disarmament is not a novel development, but rather represents a re-emergence of a much older and long-standing sensibility of humanitarianism in disarmament. The Book rejects the 'big bang' theory that presents the Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention 1997, and its successors - the Convention on Cluster Munitions 2008, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2017 - as a paradigm shift from an older traditional state-centric approach towards a more progressive humanitarian approach. It shows how humanitarian disarmament has a long and complex history, which includes these treaties. This book argues that the attempt to locate the birth of humanitarian disarmament in these treaties is part of the attempt to cleanse humanitarian disarmament of politics, presenting humanitarianism as a morally superior discourse in disarmament. However, humanitarianism carries its own blind spots and has its own hegemonic leanings. It may be silencing other potentially more transformative discourses.