From the Nuclear Laager to the Non-Proliferation Club: South Africa and the NPT
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Authors
van Wyk, Jo-Ansie
van Wyk, Anna-Mart
Issue Date
2015
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
South Africa , IAEA , NPT , nuclear weapon , nuclear proliferation
Alternative Title
Abstract
South Africa is recognised for the termination of its nuclear weapons programme at the end of the 1980s. Despite global diplomatic efforts and sanctions, it took South Africa 21 years to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). During this period, global opposition to its apartheid policies resulted in embargoes and sanctions, which served as catalysts for the country becoming a recognised nuclear proliferator and sanctions buster. Driven by domestic and regional threat perceptions, South Africa produced six nuclear devices as a deterrent strategy. It was only by 1987 that South Africa for the first time indicated its intention to accede to the NPT. Therefore, this contribution describes South Africa's position on and involvement in the multilateral negotiations leading to the NPT's agreed text, and South Africa's perspective on the nascent non-proliferation agreement. In order to achieve this, the contribution is chronologically limited to the period 1959 until 1991. The domestic and international motives, intentions and incentives that shaped South Africa's refused participation in the new regime until its ratification of the NPT in 1991, are analysed.
Description
Access to the full-text of this item is restricted to subscribers. If you have a subscription to this journal you can access this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2014.977337
Citation
To cite this article: Jo-Ansie van Wyk & Anna-Mart van Wyk (2015): From the Nuclear Laager
to the Non-Proliferation Club: South Africa and the NPT, South African Historical Journal, DOI:
10.1080/02582473.2014.977337
Publisher
License
© 2015 Southern African Historical Society
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
1726-1686