Nineteen ninety-five will be a fateful year for the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Twenty-five years after the treaty's entry into force, the parties to the NPT will meet in New York to consider its extension.

Does this most widely adhered to arms control agreement in history have a future beyond 1995? At the 1985 and the 1990 review conferences of the NPT held in Geneva, the parties reaffirmed the treaty's value. Yet, despite its widespread support, the NPT has been severely criticized ever since it was negotiated, and several important regional powers have refused to sign it.

1995: A New Beginning for the NPT? addresses the prospects for the treaty in its twenty-fifth year.

The future of the treaty cannot be explored without considering the dramatically changing world, especially the end of the cold war and the disintegration of the Soviet Union; the rapid strides in deeply reducing nuclear arms in the United States and the former Soviet Union, and prospects for further testing restraints; the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War; and the uncertain North Korean nuclear situation.