Brazil and Mexico in the Nonproliferation Regime, Common Structures and Divergent Trajectories in Latin America

Abstract

There are multiple options Latin American countries to support and comply with the nuclear nonproliferation regime. At the global level, states can decide to ratify the core treaties and join their supporting institutions such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime, the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, and the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT). At the regional level, countries in the Western Hemisphere can adhere to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which in 1968 created the world's first nuclear-weapons-free zone in a densely populated region Although the treaty is fully in force and has been ratified by all Latin American states, regional support for the nonproliferation regime has varied substantially over time, with some countries choosing to endorse the regime early on, and other states historically opposing it. Empirically and theoretically, it is worth exploring this variation in nonproliferation strategies, including questioning why some traditionally oppositional states changed their position over time.