The prospect of a ban on nuclear weapons is causing division within the global community, writes Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Rebecca Gibbons in War on the Rocks, a news site specializing in national security and foreign policy issues.

More than 120 countries, said Gibbons, have spent much of the summer finalizing a treaty that would ban the ownership of a nuclear weapons, arguing that they are “inherently immoral.” However, she continued, “the United States and its allies reject that argument,” contending that such an agreement could undermine a key treaty that serves as “the cornerstone of the global nuclear nonprofileration regime.'”