Humanitära initiativ som grund för vapenkonventioner Lärdomar och insikter

Abstract

In recent years, many efforts on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferations have been made by non-nuclear states and civil society. The dissatisfaction has motivated non-governmental organizations to pursue a ‘humanitarian initiative’ based on international conferences aimed at highlighting the humanitarian consequences of certain arms and nuclear weapons. This study examines the five key roles, according to Rapport et al. (2012), that civil society organizations have played in the establishment of arms control conventions, more specifically the Mine Ban Treaty, also called Ottawa Convention, and the Cluster Munition Convention. This thesis is a comparative case study examining two similar conventions in which civil society has played an active role and where the results were considered successful. The aim is achieved through a process tracing analysis of the Ottawa Convention and the Cluster Munition Convention. The theoretical framework builds on Marianne Hanson’s theory ‘The Humanitarian Road’. Conclusively, it can be stated that civil society has played some of the five key roles that Rappert et al. (2012) stated in the process of arms conventions such as the Ottawa Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. There are some interesting similarities between the two conventions, however it cannot define the success of a convention alone. Therefore, further research is required to investigate this conclusion.