Trident and International Law

About the Book: 

Challenging the legality of UK nuclear policy as a further generation of nuclear-armed submarines is developed, Trident and International Law asks who is really accountable for Coulport and Faslane.

The UK government in Westminster controls nuclear policy decisions even though Britain's nuclear submarines and warheads are all based in Scotland, at Faslane and Coulport. The Scottish Government therefore has responsibilities under domestic and international law relating to the deployment of nuclear weapons in Scotland.

Public concern about nuclear deployments, and particularly the security and proliferation implications of modernising Trident, led the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre and Trident Ploughshares to organise an international conference on 'Trident and International Law: Scotland's Obligations' in Edinburgh in 2009. This book presents the key papers and documents, with additional arguments from renowned legal scholars. The findings should be of interest to lawyers, policymakers and citizens with interest or responsibilities in legal and nuclear issues, public safety and human security. Whilst focusing on Scotland, this book raises serious questions for nuclear weapon deployments worldwide.

About the Authors:

REBECCA JOHNSON is an international peace and justice campaigner and author, with a phd on multilateral diplomacy from the University of London School of Economics (LSE). Her recent book on civil society and government strategies to achieve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), entitled Unfinished Business, was published by the United Nations in 2009.

ANGIE ZELTER is a well-known campaigner on peace, justice, environmental and human rights issues. She works at the grass-roots level in the UK and abroad, encouraging and supporting global citizens, acting in the public interest, and showing by her example, creative and nonviolent ways to resist the cruelty, waste and pollution of society's present-day structures. She is a founder member of the Institute for Law and Peace, Trident Ploughshares, the International Women's Peace Institute – Palestine, Faslane 365 and Action Atomic Weapons Eradication. She is a recipient of the 1997 Sean McBride Peace Prize (for the Seeds of Hope Ploughshares action), and the 2001 Right Livelihood Award (on behalf of Trident Ploughshares). She now lives in Wales working with others to manage woodlands for local use whilst preserving bio-diversity and on various local organic food growing projects.