Coordinating Global and Regional Efforts to Combat WMD Terrorism

WMD terrorism has become a real threat. Even the probability of terrorist organizations using fissile material to build a crude nuclear device is realistic. This publication looks at national and international efforts aimed at curbing WMD terrorism. It examines the different policies worked out by the international community: unilateral and multilateral initiatives, coalitions of the willing and the role of international organizations, both universal, such as the United Nations and the IAEA, and regional, such as NATO and the EU. Unilateralism and ad hoc coalitions are seen as a means for complementing multilateralism and the work done by international organizations. Numerous policies have been devised and several actions carried out. This notwithstanding, international terrorism is still a threat, and a consensual policy remains difficult to achieve because of the North-South division on defining international terrorism, the main cause for the abortive attempt to draft a global convention. This publication is a follow-up to the conference on "Coordinating Global and Regional Efforts to Combat WMD Terrorism", held in Rome on October 24, 2008. It is not a mere collection of papers, but provides thorough insight into the WMD terrorism phenomenon and can help to define further lines of action.

Chapters 1-3 published also in The International Spectator, Vol. 44, No. 1 (March 2009).