What is the current status of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, after three successive Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conferences without a consensus document, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons gaining strength? How has the use of chemical weapons in Syria affected the long-standing norm against chemical warfare? With global pandemics on the rise, how can we neuter the threat of biological weapons and facilitate international biodefence cooperation? And what about conventional weapons that make up the bulk of the world’s weapon arsenals and kill thousands every year? How is the development of lethal autonomous weapons and other potentially disruptive technologies likely to affect the arms control regime? On the multilateral dimension, as great power competition has intensified, what role has China played? And what are the expectations for the future of arms control?

Major themes:

• International Security, Norms and Geopolitics
• Nuclear issues, the Non-Proliferation Treaty and alternative views
• The Syrian Crisis and chemical weapons
• Biological warfare and the danger of biotech developments and germs, toxins and pandemics
• Conventional Weapons Capability and the global trade in arms
• Lethal Autonomous Weapons and other technology
• China and Arms Control
• What is the future for arms control? An assessment