PhD research project
Supervisors: Caitriona McLeish and James Revill
Innovation and improvisation in the chemical weapons regime
The 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention is the latest and as yet fullest legal expression of the
ancient and cross-cultural norm against the use of chemicals in warfare. As such it is the cornerstone
of the current chemical weapons regime, banning both the use and the manufacture of these
weapons. Negotiated at a time when chemical weapons were in state arsenals, the Convention also
holds such members to account for the total elimination of their stockpiles. Concentrating much of
its operational effort on this task, the implementing body of the Convention, the Organisation for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has, according to their December 2015 figures,
verified the destruction of 90% of the world's declared stockpile of 72,525 metric tonnes of chemical
warfare agents. As well as destroying chemical weapons, the Convention also seeks to prevent
(re)emergence of chemical warfare and it is in this task where arguably the Convention is coming
under pressure.
As a product of its time, the Convention has embedded within it Cold War notions of what are
chemical weapons, how and when they might be used and by whom, and lays out in great detail
how activities by the OPCW should be conducted. However, the text of the Convention has clearly
been drafted as a flexible and adaptable legal instrument and as a result is capable of withstanding
scientific and technological advances, economic changes and changes in security cultures. As we
near a world free of declared chemical weapons, both the Convention and the implementing body
must accommodate and/or adapt to changes in the geopolitical, scientific and technological
environments if it is to ensure that its member states continue to consider chemical weapons as
intolerable.
Proposals are sought that would examine how the OPCW is preparing for, and adapting to, the
upcoming transition in its primary function, and in particular work that highlights organisational
innovation and improvisation. Whilst the final choice of case study should reflect the applicants
interests, examples of potential case studies might include: the OPCW’s efforts to reach out and
work with stakeholders other than governments; accommodation of technical change and changing
industrial dynamics; whether and how ‘new’ chemical weapons or utilities are being considered; and
recent reactions to allegations and confirmed use of chemical weapons.
References
Ahmet Üzümcü The Chemical Weapons Convention—disarmament, science and technology,
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry August 2014, Volume 406, Issue 21, pp 50715073 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-014-7956-8
Kelle, A. (2013), The Third Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention and beyond:
key themes and the prospects of incremental change. International Affairs, 89: 143–
158 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2346.12009/full
Katie Smallwood, Ralf Trapp, Robert Mathews, Beat Schmidt and Leiv K. Sydnes “Impact of scientific
developments on the Chemical Weapons Convention (IUPAC Technical Report)” Pure and Applied
Chemistry. Volume 85, Issue 4, Pages 851–
881: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pac.2013.85.issue-4/pac-rep-12-11-18/pac-rep-12-1118.xml