Nuclear Ends and the Crisis of International Law

From the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the recent U.S/Israel war with Iran, the legal and moral basis for nuclear proliferation has been contested through international legal institutions. This lecture outlines the ambition and failure of international law to address the threats of nuclearisation.

The nuclear supply chains, crisis of dealing with radioactive waste, and the legacy of nuclear weapons testing is less prominent in public and political discussions. The accelerating energy demands of A.I coupled with ‘net zero’ commitments has led governments, including that of the UK, to call for an expansion of nuclear energy production. Drawing on these nuclear ends, the lecture explores the limits of international law.