International Law and the Nuclear Trade : From the Cold War to Today

I have conducted this project as my doctoral and post-doctoral research at Princeton University (2002 to 2008) and then at Northwestern University (2008-2012). This project has lead to various publication including my first monograph Fallout: Nuclear Diplomacy in an Age of Global Fracture (Chicago University Press, 2014), and a various articles on the creation of the European Union as a foreign policy actor, or on the expert knowledge practices found in the design of a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East.

Since the Cuban Missile Crisis, thus far, the international community has succeeded in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to new nations, and this is partly due to the various treaties signed in the 1960s forswearing the use of nuclear technology for military purposes. In Fallout, and in a series of other articles, I explain why some nations agreed to these limitations of their sovereign will—and why others decidedly did not. I build my investigation around the signing of the Euratom Treaty and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which, though binding in nature, weren’t adhered to consistently by all signatory nations. In particular, I look at Europe’s observance of treaty rules in contrast to the three holdouts in the global nonproliferation regime: Israel, India, and Pakistan. The book not only provides a new perspective on world diplomatic history, but, more significantly, draws important conclusions about potential conditions that could facilitate the inclusion of the remaining NPT holdouts.

In this project, I have also conducted "policy experiments", designed to test whether past legal templates, like the Euratom Treaty, could serve as good reference points to organize discussions in other regions. This more policy-oriented side of my work has also lead to various policy papers, high level policy seminars and even draft treaties prepared for diplomats.

Publications

1.	Diplomatic Gambling vs. New Diplomacy Grégoire Mallard, Dominic Eggel and Marc Galvin. May 14, 2025 Global Challenges Introduction to the issue 17.	1 May 2025
2.	"Repenser Les Choix Nucléaires" by Benoît Pelopidas Grégoire Mallard. 2023 Paris: SciencesPo Presses. H-DIPLO	1 Dec 2023
3.	L’Europe et le mythe de la paix permanente: Les métamorphoses du pluralisme juridique au vingtième siècle Grégoire Mallard. 2020 in Traversées de mondes : Rencontres Recherche et Création, edited by Catherine Courtet, Mireille Besson, Françoise Lavocat, and Alain Viala. CNRS edition.	1 Dec 2020
4.	Antagonistic Recursivities and Successive Cover-Ups: The Case of Private Nuclear Proliferation Grégoire Mallard. 2018 British Journal of Sociology. 69(4): 1007-1030	1 Dec 2018
5.	From Europe’s Past to the Middle East’s Future: The Constitutive Purposes of Forward Analogies in International Security Grégoire Mallard. 2017 American Journal of Cultural Sociology. 6(3): 532-562	1 Dec 2017
6.	Rules and Monitoring Systems: Complementary or Conflicting Logics? Grégoire Mallard. 2017 American Journal of International Law (Unbound). (111): 187-193	1 Dec 2017
7.	Legal Mimetism or Legal Mimesis? Conceptual and Methodological Reflections on the Study of Norm Diffusion Grégoire Mallard and Stephanie Hofmann. 2016 Pp. 89-103, in Dissémination et mimétisme en droit international : un regard anthropologique sur la formation des normes, edited by Vincent Negri and Isabelle Schulte-Tenckhoff. Editions Pedone	1 Dec 2016
8.	Author-Meets-Critics on "Fallout" (including Julia Adams, Ron Levi, Antoine Vauchez) Grégoire Mallard. 2015 Pp. 21-27, Trajectories (Spring), the newsletter of the ASA section on comparative and historical sociology.	1 Dec 2015
9.	Fallout: Nuclear Diplomacy in an Age of Global Fracture Grégoire Mallard. 2014. University of Chicago Press. Many Baby Boomers still recall crouching under their grade-school desks in frequent bomb drills during the Cuban Missile Crisis—a clear representation of how terrified the United States was of nuclear war. Thus far, we have succeeded in preventing such catastrophe, and this is partly due to the various treaties signed in the 1960s forswearing the use of nuclear technology for military purposes. In Fallout, Grégoire Mallard seeks to understand why some nations agreed to these limitations of their sovereign will—and why others decidedly did not. He builds his investigation around the 1968 signing of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which, though binding in nature, wasn’t adhered to consistently by all signatory nations. Mallard looks at Europe’s observance of treaty rules in contrast to the three holdouts in the global nonproliferation regime: Israel, India, and Pakistan. He seeks to find reasons for these discrepancies, and makes the compelling case that who wrote treaties and how rules were written—whether transparently, ambiguously, or opaquely—had major significance in how the rules were interpreted and whether they were then followed or dismissed. Mallard not only provides a new perspective on our diplomatic history, but, more significantly, draws important conclusions about potential conditions that could facilitate the inclusion of the remaining NPT holdouts. See reviews by Patrick Roberts, Matthew Kroenig, Ariel Colonomos, , Bruno Tertrais, Florent Pouponneau, and a debate with Julia Adams, Ron Levi, Nitsan Chorev, and Antoine Vauchez (Spring 2015 issue of Trajectories)	1 Dec 2014
10.	The Middle East at a Crossroad: How to Face the Perils of Nuclear Development in a Volatile Region Grégoire Mallard and Paolo Foradori. 2014 Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations. 24(4): 499-515	1 Dec 2014
11.	Crafting the Nuclear Regime Complex (1950-1975): Dynamics of Harmonization of Opaque Treaty Rules Grégoire Mallard. 2014 European Journal of International Law. 25(2): 445-472	1 Dec 2014
12.	Dissuasion, non-prolifération, désarmement: Une stratégie pour l’Europe Grégoire Mallard and Frédéric Mérand. 2011 Pp. 165-176 in Armement et désarmement nucléaires. Un défi pour l’Europe, edited by Christophe Wasinski et Sébastien Boussois. Peter Lang	1 Dec 2011
13.	How Claims to Know the Future are Used to Understand the Present: Techniques of Prospection in The Field of National Security Grégoire Mallard and Andrew Lakoff. 2011 Pp. 339-377 in Social Knowledge in the Making, edited by Charles Camic, Michèle Lamont and Neil Gross. Chicago University Press	1 Dec 2011
14.	The Fractal Process of European Integration: A Formal Theory of Recursivity in the Field of European Security Grégoire Mallard and Martial Foucault. 2011 French Politics, Culture and Society. 29(3): 68-89	1 Dec 2011
15.	A Treaty Establishing a Community of Atomic Energy in the Middle East: A Proposal with Comments Grégoire Mallard. 2010 Proposal with an Introduction by Hans Blix Background Paper of the Nuclear Forum in Cairo (Arab Institute for Security Studies 2011) and of the Nuclear Governance Workshop (European University Institute 2012)	1 Dec 2010
16.	“The Radiance of France Nuclear Power and National Identity after World War II" by Gabrielle Hech Grégoire Mallard. 2010 Metascience. 19(3): 467-474	1 Dec 2010
17.	L'Europe puissance nucléaire, cet obscur objet du désir. Vers une sociologie des tactiques d'énonciations du projet européen Grégoire Mallard. 2009 Critique Internationale. 42: 141-163	1 Dec 2009
18.	"Science for the Empire: Scientific Nationalism in Modern Japan" by Hiromi Mizuno Grégoire Mallard. 2009 Canadian Journal of Sociology. 34(3): 930-2	1 Dec 2009
19.	France’s Return to NATO : What should be Europe’s Strategy ? Grégoire Mallard and Frédéric Mérand. May 2009 Canada-Europe Transatlantic Dialogue	1 May 2009
20.	Who Shall Keep Humanity's 'Sacred Trust': International Liberals, Cosmopolitans and the Problem of Nuclear Nonproliferation Grégoire Mallard. 2008 Pp. 82-119 in Global Science and National Sovereignty, edited by Grégoire Mallard, Catherine Paradeise and Ashveen Peerbaye. Routledge	1 Dec 2008
21.	Global Science and National Sovereignty: A New Terrain for the Historical Sociology of Science Grégoire Mallard and Catherine Paradeise. 2008 Pp. 1-39 in Global Science and National Sovereignt, edited by Grégoire Mallard, Catherine Paradeise and Ashveen Peerbaye. Routledge	1 Dec 2008
22.	Can the Euratom Treaty Inspire the Middle East? The Promises of Nuclear Regional Authorities Grégoire Mallard. 2008 The Nonproliferation Review. 15(3): 459-477	1 Dec 2008
23.	Quand l’expertise se heurte au pouvoir souverain : La nation américaine face à la prolifération nucléaire, 1945-1953 Grégoire Mallard. 2006 Sociologie du Travail. 48(3): 367-389	1 Dec 2006

PROJECTS

Categories

International Law and the Nuclear Trade : From the Cold War to Today

Publications

GRÉGOIRE MALLARD