BEYOND NEW START: THE FUTURE OF ARMS CONTROL

This brings us to the second major challenge facing future arms control agreements— who should be at the negotiating table? Since World War II, the majority of arms control agreements have involved Washington and Moscow—and a large number of those have been bilateral.13 Even with only two delegations, negotiating arms control is no simple task. Yet, calls to include additional countries are increasing, with many arguing that the distribution of capabilities across the globe requires broader engagement.14 That said, efforts to bring China into discussions to replace New START prior to its February 2021 extension failed to get off of the ground. The number of states party to an agreement has implications for both negotiation and implementation of arms control agreements. It also remains unclear how to integrate additional states into the existing arms control regimes, though track 2 and track 1.5 dialogues are likely to be central to bringing additional states to the negotiating table.

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