The TPNW came into force in January 2021, marking a significant departure within the global disarmament regime by advocating for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. Despite its ambitious goals, the treaty has faced criticism from nuclear weapons states, particularly regarding its suggested lack of international security dimensions. This thesis aims to examine the dual aspects of security and humanitarian concerns within the framework of the TPNW. Using a thematic analysis of documents from the TPNW framework, the research investigates how the treaty’s humanitarian and security-driven sides could contribute to fostering a security culture centered around human security. Drawing upon Mary Kaldor’s definition of the two security cultures liberal peace and geo-politics, the thesis explores how the TPNW could be part of shaping a security culture centered around human security and concludes that the Treaty has the potential to foster such international security culture.

This bachelor thesis takes off in Sweden's declared feminist foreign policy and how these ideas are found in relation to nuclear weapons. Traditional security policy today is characterized by a realistic perspective where states' power and security are placed at the top of the agenda. In contrast, the research field Feminist Security Studies often criticizes this view of security by pointing out that it is national security that is being discussed, not human security. The aim of the study is to discern what kind of security policy is portrayed in the inquiry and intends to answer the question,how is the inquiry presented in relation to feminist and traditional security policy? By using idea analysis as method and ideal types as a tool of analysis, the aim is to be able to understand what ideas regarding security that can be distinguished in the material, which is Utredning av konsekvenserna av ett Svenskt tillträde till konventionen om förbud mot kärnvapen (Inquiry of the consequences of a Swedish entry into the Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons). The data is collected through qualitative and quantitative content analysis and is presented in tables and charts. The study shows that Sweden has a realistic view of the international system in which the state is portrayed as the central actor which should be protected from possible threats. The threats that are portrayed in the inquiry are mainly those that threaten to harm the state's sovereignty. Despite Sweden's pronounced feminist foreign policy, nor women or the people of the state are hardly mentioned. However, we can discern feminist ideas when it comes to what measures to take to maintain security, where cooperation and disarmament are highlighted as two central parts. The study contributes to increased insight into Sweden's view of security and the declared feminist foreign policy and how it works in practice. The result of the study shows the importance of trying to integrate the feminist foreign policy in more parts of the Foreign Ministry's work.

After the Cold War ended, the process of nuclear disarmament began to stagnate and in recent years there are signs of backsliding. Efforts to revive the disarmament regime over decades culminated with the drafting and ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017 and 2021 respectively, much to the dismay of nuclear weapons states. The U.S., Britain, and France have declared their dismissal of the treaty while subscribing to the disarmament regime as established by the Non-proliferation Treaty of 1970.  The Western nuclear powers typically channel their opposition through NATO, and this thesis will first look at NATO’s legal arguments and as the strategy of nuclear deterrence which is fundamental to their defensive strategy. I will then investigate NATO discourse as it pertains to nuclear weapon strategy as a constituent of its subjectivity and intentionality. In other words, what it is like to “be” NATO, and in so doing understand why it acts in opposition to a goal it already pursues.  This is relevant to IR in that it explores an alterative manner in which to understand social structures while adhering to research designs typically ascribes to the “lower” unit of analysis of individuals.

Disarmament remains a contested topic within the nuclear weapons debate and it is included as one of the mutually reinforcing pillars of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). However, when the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was mandated by UNGA in 2016 and later entered into force in 2021, it was immediately rejected by all nuclear-weapons states – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – and their allies. The paradox of such a negative response to the new treaty despite their alleged loyalty to the disarmament pillar of the NPT was the starting point of the thesis and was examined through the theoretical lenses of constructivism, neo-liberal institutionalism and structural realism to pinpoint which offered the most tangible answer to the question at hand. The research was conducted by utilizing the method of qualitative content analysis on statements and working papers by the five nuclear-weapons states, and it concluded that – while all theories brought up interesting points – structural realism provided the most useful perspective on the matter through its take on states’ insecurity towards each other