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Promoting dialogue to advance global security.
Since 1987, we’ve been at the forefront of global efforts to build trust and cooperation on some of the world’s most progressive global peace and security initiatives.
BASIC has six active programmes, each offering innovative paths to support the global objectives of nuclear disarmament and arms control.
In a difficult international environment, the disarmament steps agreed at NPT review conferences seem increasingly blocked. The Stepping Stones approach suggests a pathway for unblocking disarmament:
Whilst the public debate over nuclear disarmament tends to deal in black and white, the reality is that the nuclear disarmament process to which every member of the international community is committed to inevitably involves a complex set of steps that can be taken unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally. And this process inevitably involves uncertainty and setback.
On Tuesday, 11 June, Foreign Ministers from 15 countries meet in Stockholm to discuss how to make progress on nuclear disarmament. The impetus for this meeting is the Swedish ‘Stepping Stones’ implementation approach, presented in April at the United Nations in order to revive the blocked disarmament pathway in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
BASIC co-developed the Stepping Stones framework with Sweden, and this year has a supporting project with roundtables and publications.
The Stepping Stones Approach seeks to engage all members of the international community in a cooperative and inclusive process that nudges the nuclear possessor states away from arms racing dynamics and in a more positive direction, with the intention of reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in postures, achieving incremental disarmament and progressively building up the capacity for further steps.
This is a roundtable report for the roundtable ‘Pragmatic Leadership to achieve progress on disarmament: Finding Stepping Stones in the Step-by-Step approach’, organised by BASIC in London on 22 November 2018.
The roundtable assessed the general health of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the state of nuclear disarmament and arms control, and what leadership means in creating a cooperative approach at the 2020 NPT Review Conference.
Read more about news from BASIC.
What are ‘nuclear responsibilities’ and what are they for? Find out everything you need to know about the BASIC-ICCS Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities.
We are recruiting for a Senior Policy Analyst.
After three successful years with BASIC, Co-Director Maxwell Downman is departing to take up a post at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
BASIC believes in making progress on nuclear disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation through multiple complementary approaches. We continuously develop our programmes – streams of research – through sustained engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, collectively searching for the art of the possible.
Our current programmes are listed below. To see our Programme’s page, click here. To see our completed programmes, visit our archive.
BASIC reports and briefings offer authoritative analysis and innovative recommendations to help countries make meaningful progress on nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. Read some of our latest publications from across our programmes:
What are ‘nuclear responsibilities’ and what are they for? Find out everything you need to know about the BASIC-ICCS Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities.
In March 2019, BASIC and ICCS staff held a closed-door roundtable at the Geneva Centre…
This parliamentary briefing was issued in advance of the Debate on the report from the International Relations Committee ‘Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’, Tuesday, 16th of July 2019. This is an opportunity to consider the ways in which the UK can reduce nuclear risks globally, and engage in meaningful multilateral disarmament processes ahead of the 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
This report arises from a roundtable on ‘Developing European Perspectives on Nuclear Risks’ on 7 May 2019, hosted at the Polish Mission to the UN in New York and under the sponsorship of the Dutch Foreign Ministry during the 2019 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee.
The security environment in Europe has deteriorated in recent years, and nuclear risks have re-emerged as a prime concern for European governments.
The Stepping Stones Approach seeks to engage all members of the international community in a cooperative and inclusive process that nudges the nuclear possessor states away from arms racing dynamics and in a more positive direction, with the intention of reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in postures, achieving incremental disarmament and progressively building up the capacity for further steps.
This report arises from a one-day roundtable on ‘nuclear responsibilities’ on the 6th March 2019, hosted by the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur.
Nuclear disarmament has fallen off the public agenda. Media attention is sporadic and reactive, focusing on short-term trends like summits with North Korea or sanctions on Iran. But the longer-term process of global disarmament rarely features in the news cycle and where there is reference it is treated with disdain as unrealistic. This has serious costs to public engagement and democratic accountability.
We provide analysis on the latest debates in the field of nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation.
The Israeli policy of nuclear ambiguity is perhaps one of the most controversial nuclear policies today, and is the subject of some criticism by other states in the Middle East and nuclear disarmament activists.
Whilst the public debate over nuclear disarmament tends to deal in black and white, the reality is that the nuclear disarmament process to which every member of the international community is committed to inevitably involves a complex set of steps that can be taken unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally. And this process inevitably involves uncertainty and setback.
The 1995 indefinite extension of the NPT was agreed alongside a decision to hold a…
BASIC is developing new approaches to overcome states’ dependency on the doctrine of nuclear deterrence, which blocks global nuclear disarmament and drives proliferation. We engage diverse perspectives, encourage empathy across states, and broaden the context of debate. We have an established reputation for non-partisan, non-judgemental, cross-cultural engagement and for seeking common ground.
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Our distinctive practice — developed over thirty years — uses sustained and inclusive diplomacy, active listening and empathy to transform some of the world’s most dangerous nuclear stalemates. But we can’t do it without you.
