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America's image in the world today is not all that it should be. Blame for this is most often assigned to President George W. Bush, but greater responsibility rests with deeper changes in the international system: the resentment (and fear) caused by the preponderance of American power, the loosening of alliances after the demise of the Soviet Union, a fundamental rethinking of the laws of war and peace in an age of terror, the co-branding of the United States with the forces of modernity and globalisation, and a demographic change that has sidelined the post-Second World War generation with their historical memories of American bravery and generosity. The next US president can start to restore America's image by setting a new tone, adroitly managing the US presence in the Persian Gulf and adopting new policies on climate change, immigration, world trade, and Guantanamo Bay. Even so, resurrecting America's image will be a slow, long-term process. (Survival / SWP)

Perhaps the least noted and most astonishing aspect of the entire diplomatic process involving North Korea during the past few years has been the almost complete inability of four of the world's strongest military and economic powers - the United States, China, Russia and Japan, which include three nuclear weapons states and three members of the UN Security Council - to shape the strategic environment in Northeast Asia. They have proven thoroughly incapable of preventing an impoverished, dysfunctional country from consistently endangering the peace and stability of the world's most economically dynamic region. This has been nothing less than a collective failure. Only when the other parties to the Six-Party Talks undertake a fundamental reassessment of the costs and benefits of their current policies will there be a chance to rein in, never mind reverse, Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons programme. (Survival / SWP)

Examines reasons why countries have slowed, halted, or reversed growth of their atomic weapons programs. Elimination of nuclear capability in Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Ukraine, and nuclear restraint in North Korea, India, and Pakistan.