Abstrakt
In this chapter, I will try to unpack the paradoxical double-edged nature of nuclear infrastructure in relation to the goal of global nuclear disarmament. On the one hand, a robust nuclear infrastructure does give the nuclear-armed states confidence in their remaining arsenal in the sensitive final stages of nuclear abolition; it provides them with the tools for complex verification activities, enables them to efficiently dismantle the remaining stockpiles, and facilitates the political decision to do so.
On the other hand, the maintenance of a responsive infrastructure beyond the point of abolition as a latent virtual arsenal represents a serious threat to the stability of the disarmament regime on both military-strategic and normatively political grounds. Paradoxically, what is often portrayed as a way to enable the ultimate goal of the abolition of nuclear weapons may well create a world that is still de facto nuclear and most likely even more inequitable, unstable, and dangerous than the one in which we live right now.