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6 - Post-NPT Accession

Champion of Non-proliferation Norms – Or Recalcitrant Proliferation Hotspot?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2024

Robin E. Möser
Affiliation:
Universität Potsdam, Germany
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Summary

Chapter 6 bridges the gap between the apartheid years and the post-apartheid majority government under ANC rule. Following the signature of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the saga of South Africa’s nuclear weapons programme was far from over, as the government still had to conclude a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). I illuminate how the nuclear sector inherited from the apartheid era was scaled down under the first democratic government. In addition, yet another leftover from the apartheid past continued to make headlines well into the second decade of the new millennium: the highly enriched uranium (HEU) in the hands of the South Africans remained an irritating issue from an US non-proliferation policy point of view. By looking at the government’s nuclear policies under ANC majority rule, I reveal that the Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma administrations were not receptive to US incentives to sell South Africa’s remaining HEU to Washington. However, from the US State Department’s perspective, this could have decreased the danger of proliferation.

Type
Chapter
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Disarming Apartheid
The End of South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Programme and Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 1968–1991
, pp. 172 - 195
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Post-NPT Accession
  • Robin E. Möser, Universität Potsdam, Germany
  • Book: Disarming Apartheid
  • Online publication: 28 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009307062.007
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  • Post-NPT Accession
  • Robin E. Möser, Universität Potsdam, Germany
  • Book: Disarming Apartheid
  • Online publication: 28 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009307062.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Post-NPT Accession
  • Robin E. Möser, Universität Potsdam, Germany
  • Book: Disarming Apartheid
  • Online publication: 28 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009307062.007
Available formats
×