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51-780: The Outer Space Treaty , formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies , is a multilateral treaty that forms the basis of international space law . Negotiated and drafted under the auspices of the United Nations , it was opened for signature in the United States , the United Kingdom , and

102-706: A General Assembly session in December 1966, culminating in the drafting and adoption of the Outer Space Treaty the following January. Key provisions of the Outer Space Treaty include prohibiting nuclear weapons in space; limiting the use of the Moon and all other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes; establishing that space shall be freely explored and used by all nations; and precluding any country from claiming sovereignty over outer space or any celestial body. Although it forbids establishing military bases, testing weapons and conducting military maneuvers on celestial bodies,

153-401: A class of actions, without regard to particularistic interests of the parties or the strategic exigencies that may exist in any occurrence." He further clarified that multilateralism is 'a unique product of US global hegemony [. . . ] not necessarily a post-war American invention', but a reflection of post-war 'American hegemony '. Embedding the target state in a multilateral alliance reduces

204-466: A clean slate. It is a policy that flowed from our recent history and our national movement and its development and various ideals, we have proclaimed. (Nehru, 1961, p. 34). In fact, the foreign policy culture of India is an elite culture, meaning, in effect, that the writings and speeches of select leading figures of the Indian foreign policy elite provide an insight into the key ideas and norms constituting

255-484: A larger one can be effective. Similarly, multilateralism may allow one great power to influence another great power. For a great power to seek control through bilateral ties could be costly; it may require bargaining and compromise with the other great power. Miles Kahler defines multilateralism as "international governance" or global governance of the "many," and its central principle was "opposition [to] bilateral discriminatory arrangements that were believed to enhance

306-503: A multilateral forum. Arguably, the Bush administration favoured bilateralism over multilateralism, or even unilateralism, for similar reasons. Rather than going it alone or going it with others, the administration opted for intensive one-on-one relationships with handpicked countries that maximized the U.S. capacity to achieve its objectives. Another challenge in global governance through multilateralism involves national sovereignty. Regardless of

357-431: A particular agreement. Victor Cha argued that: power asymmetries predict the type of structures, bilateral or multilateral, that offer the most control. If small powers try to control a larger one, then multilateralism is effective. But if great powers seek control over smaller ones, bilateral alliances are more effective. Thus, a country's decision to select bilateralism or multilateralism when enacting foreign policies

408-609: A result of discussions arising from Project West Ford in 1963, a consultation clause was included in Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty: "A State Party to the Treaty which has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including

459-527: A state is also liable for damages caused by its space object. Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty deals with international responsibility, stating that "the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty" and that States Party shall bear international responsibility for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities. As

510-742: A tradition of public and private participation. After the Second World War the victors, drawing upon experience from the League's failure, created the United Nations in 1945. Since then, the "breadth and diversity" of multilateral arrangements have escalated. Unlike the League, the UN had the active participation of the United States and the Soviet Union , the world's then greatest contemporary powers. Along with

561-636: Is unilateralism , in terms of political philosophy . Other authors have used the term "minilateralism" to refer to the fewest states required to get the biggest results through this institutional form. The foreign policy that India formulated after independence reflected its idiosyncratic culture and political traditions. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, in March 1950, Nehru affirmed: “It should not be supposed that we are starting on

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612-622: Is greatly affected by its size and power, as well as the size and power of the country over which it seeks to control. Take the example of Foreign Policy of the United States . Many references discuss how the United States interacts with other nations. In particular, the United States chose multilateralism in Europe and decided to form NATO , while it formed bilateral alliances, or the Hub and spokes architecture , in East Asia. Although there are many arguments about

663-507: Is whether the state became a party by way of signature and subsequent ratification , by accession to the treaty after it had closed for signature, or by succession of states after separation from some other party to the treaty. The Republic of China (Taiwan), which is currently recognized by 11 UN member states , ratified the treaty prior to the United Nations General Assembly 's vote to transfer China's seat to

714-497: The Antarctic Treaty of 1961, the Outer Space Treaty likewise focuses on regulating certain activities and preventing unrestricted competition that could lead to conflict. Consequently, it is largely silent or ambiguous on newly developed space activities such as lunar and asteroid mining . Nevertheless, the Outer Space Treaty is the first and most foundational legal instrument of space law, and its broader principles of promoting

765-468: The Conference of Berlin in 1884 helped reduce power conflicts during this period, and the 19th century was one of Europe's most peaceful. Industrial and colonial competition, combined with shifts in the balance of power after the creation - by diplomacy and conquest - of Germany by Prussia meant cracks were appearing in this system by the turn of the 20th century. The concert system was utterly destroyed by

816-491: The European Union and NAFTA , although these are not in themselves incompatible with larger accords. The original sponsor of post-war multilateralism in economic regimes, the United States, turned towards unilateral action and in trade and other negotiations as a result of dissatisfaction with the outcomes of multilateral fora. As the most powerful nation, the United States had the least to lose from abandoning multilateralism;

867-629: The First World War . After that conflict, world leaders created the League of Nations (which became the precursor of the United Nations ) in an attempt to prevent a similar conflict. Although the League of Nations failed in its security mission, it initiated a variety of specialized organizations that continue to operate today. Moreover, although the US did not join, it did provide a degree of support from individual Americans and American philanthropies that started

918-690: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) The multilateral system has encountered mounting challenges since the end of the Cold War. The United States became increasingly dominant in terms of military and economic power , which has led countries such as Iran, China and India to question

969-726: The People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1971. When the PRC subsequently ratified the treaty, they described the Republic of China's (ROC) ratification as "illegal". The ROC has committed itself to continue to adhere to the requirements of the treaty, and the United States has declared that it still considers the ROC to be "bound by its obligations". 21 states have signed but not ratified the treaty. The remaining UN member states and United Nations General Assembly observer states which have neither ratified nor signed

1020-423: The Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, entering into force on 10 October 1967. As of March 2024, 115 countries are parties to the treaty—including all major spacefaring nations —and another 22 are signatories. The Outer Space Treaty was spurred by the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the 1950s, which could reach targets through outer space . The Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik ,

1071-435: The Moon and other celestial bodies, may request consultation concerning the activity or experiment." Being primarily an arms control treaty for the peaceful use of outer space, the Outer Space Treaty offers limited and ambiguous regulations to newer space activities such as lunar and asteroid mining . It is therefore debated whether the extraction of resources falls within the prohibitive language of appropriation, or whether

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1122-437: The Outer Space Treaty are: Multilateralism One of the key advantages of multilateralism is that it enables countries to solve problems that transcend national boundaries, such as climate change, terrorism, and pandemics, through shared responsibility and burden-sharing. However, multilateralism is not without its challenges. The rise of populism, nationalism, and protectionism in some countries has raised concerns about

1173-506: The Outer Space Treaty is considered the "cornerstone" of space law. It was also the first major achievement of the United Nations in this area of law, following the adoption of the first U.N. General Assembly resolution on space in 1958, and the first meeting of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) the subsequent year. Within roughly a decade of the treaty's entry into force, several other treaties were brokered by

1224-530: The Soviet Union had signed in 1972. These challenges presented by the U.S. could be explained by a strong belief in bilateral alliances as instruments of control. Liberal institutionalists would argue, though, that great powers might still opt for a multilateral alliance. But great powers can amplify their capabilities to control small powers and maximize their leverage by forging a series of bilateral arrangements with allies, rather than see that leverage diluted in

1275-496: The U.N. to further develop the legal framework for activities in space: With the exception of the Moon Treaty, to which only 18 nations are party, all other treaties on space law have been ratified by most major space-faring nations (namely those capable of orbital spaceflight ). COPUOS coordinates these treaties and other questions of space jurisdiction , aided by the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs . The Outer Space Treaty

1326-534: The U.S. has led the creation of a series of bilateral agreements known as the Artemis Accords that seek to clarify a number of issue related to the Outer Space Treaty, including the use of space resources. This has created some controversy regarding legal claims over the mining of celestial bodies for profit. The " Declaration of the First Meeting of Equatorial Countries ", also known as the "Bogota Declaration",

1377-617: The UN's relevance. Concurrently, a perception developed among internationalists such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan , that the United States is more inclined to act unilaterally in situations with international implications. This trend began when the U.S. Senate, in October 1999, refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty , which President Bill Clinton had signed in September 1996. Under President George W. Bush

1428-417: The United Nations (by consolidating their UN vote in a voting bloc with other nations, for example.) Multilateralism may involve several nations acting together, as in the UN, or may involve regional or military alliances, pacts, or groupings, such as NATO . These multilateral institutions are not imposed on states but are created and accepted by them to increase their ability to seek their own interests through

1479-519: The United Nations made the new system more powerful than the old League system. Moreover, United Nations peacekeepers stationed around the world became a visible symbol of multilateralism. Later, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed as a defensive alliance that used the multilateral form to promote collective security in the postwar era. Multilateral institutions of varying scope and subject matter range from

1530-855: The United States rejected such multilateral agreements as the Kyoto Protocol , the International Criminal Court , the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel land mines and a draft protocol to ensure compliance by States with the Biological Weapons Convention . Also under the George W. Bush administration , the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty , which the Richard Nixon administration and

1581-530: The civil and peaceful use of space continue to underpin multilateral initiatives in space, such as the International Space Station and the Artemis Program . The Outer Space Treaty represents the basic legal framework of international space law . According to the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the core principles of the treaty are: Among its principles, it bars states party to

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1632-436: The coordination of their policies. Moreover, they serve as frameworks that constrain opportunistic behaviour and encourage coordination by facilitating the exchange of information about the actual behaviour of states regarding the standards to which they have consented. The term "regional multilateralism" has been proposed by Harris Mylonas and Emirhan Yorulmazlar, suggesting that "contemporary problems can be better solved at

1683-588: The costs borne by the power-seeking control, but it also offers the same binding benefits of the Lilliputian strategy. Furthermore, if a small power seeks control over another small power, multilateralism may be the only choice, because small powers rarely have the resources to exert control on their own. As such, power disparities are accommodated to the weaker states by having more predictable bigger states and means to achieve control through collective action. Powerful states also buy into multilateral agreements by writing

1734-472: The erosion of nation-states' legal and operational sovereignty in international relations, "nation-states remain the ultimate locus of authoritative decision making regarding most facets of public and private life". Hoffman asserted that nation-states are "unlikely to embrace abstract obligations that clash with concrete calculations of national interest." Global multilateralism is challenged, particularly with respect to trade, by regional arrangements such as

1785-485: The exploration of outer space shall be done to benefit all countries and that space shall be free for exploration and use by all the states. Article II of the treaty explicitly forbids any government from "appropriating" a celestial body such as the Moon or a planet, whether by declaration, use, occupation, or "any other means". However, the state that launches a space object, such as a satellite or space station, retains jurisdiction and control over that object; by extension,

1836-432: The first artificial satellite, in October 1957, followed by a subsequent arms race with the United States, hastened proposals to prohibit the use of outer space for military purposes. On 17 October 1963, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution prohibiting the introduction of weapons of mass destruction in outer space. Various proposals for an arms control treaty governing outer space were debated during

1887-540: The foundation of India's foreign policy . One modern instance of multilateralism occurred in the nineteenth century in Europe after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , where the great powers met to redraw the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (November 1814 to June 1815). The Concert of Europe , as it became known, was a group of great and lesser powers that would meet to resolve issues peacefully. Conferences such as

1938-487: The future of multilateralism and the effectiveness of international cooperation. Multilateralism, in the form of membership in international institutions, serves to bind powerful nations, discourage unilateralism , and gives small powers a voice and influence that they could not otherwise exercise. For a small power to influence a great power, the Lilliputian strategy of small countries banding together to collectively bind

1989-546: The leverage of the powerful over the weak and to increase international conflict."; Robert Keohane defined it as "the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states." John Ruggie further elaborated the concept in his influential writings on multilateralism. Based on principles of "indivisibility" and "diffuse reciprocity he defined it as "an institutional form which coordinates relations among three or more states based on 'generalized' principles of conduct ... which specify appropriate conduct for

2040-780: The political institutions of the UN, the post-war years also saw the development of organizations such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (now the World Trade Organization ), the World Bank , and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (the so-called ' Bretton Woods ' institutions), and other technical institutions that were part of the UN system—including the World Health Organization . Formation of these and other subsequent bodies under

2091-1497: The reasons for this, Cha's " powerplay " theory provides one possible reason. He argued: ...postwar U.S planners had to contend with a region uniquely constituted of potential rogue allies, through their aggressive behaviour, could potentially entrap the United States in an unwanted wider war in Asia... To avoid this outcome, the United States created a series of tight, deep bilateral alliances with Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan through which it could exercise maximum control and prevent unilateral aggression. Furthermore, it did not seek to make these bilateral alliances multilateral, because it wanted to amplify U.S. control and minimize any collusion among its partners. Conventional weapons The terms conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refer to weapons whose ability to damage comes from kinetic , incendiary , or explosive energy and exclude weapons of mass destruction ( e.g., nuclear , biological , radiological , and chemical weapons ). Conventional weapons include small arms , defensive shields, light weapons, sea and land mines , as well as bombs , shells , rockets , missiles , and cluster munitions . These weapons use explosive material based on chemical energy , as opposed to nuclear energy in nuclear weapons . Conventional weapons are also contrasted with weapons of mass destruction and improvised weapons . The Geneva Conventions govern

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2142-449: The regional rather than the bilateral or global levels" and that bringing together the concept of regional integration with that of multilateralism is necessary in today's world. Regionalism dates from the time of the earliest development of political communities, where economic and political relations naturally had a strong regionalist focus due to restrictions on technology, trade, and communications. The converse of multilateralism

2193-618: The rules and having privileges such as veto power and special status. International organizations , such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization , are multilateral in nature. The main proponents of multilateralism have traditionally been the middle powers , such as Canada, Australia, Switzerland, the Benelux countries and the Nordic countries . Larger states often act unilaterally , while smaller ones may have little direct power in international affairs aside from participation in

2244-480: The treaty does not expressly ban all military activities in space, nor the establishment of military space forces or the placement of conventional weapons in space. From 1968 to 1984, the OST gave birth to four additional agreements: rules for activities on the Moon; liability for damages caused by spacecraft; the safe return of fallen astronauts; and the registration of space vehicles . OST provided many practical uses and

2295-487: The treaty does not prohibit the placement of conventional weapons in orbit, and thus some highly destructive attack tactics, such as kinetic bombardment , are still potentially allowable. In addition, the treaty explicitly allows the use of military personnel and resources to support peaceful uses of space, mirroring a common practice permitted by the Antarctic Treaty regarding that continent. The treaty also states that

2346-551: The treaty from placing weapons of mass destruction in Earth orbit, installing them on the Moon or any other celestial body , or otherwise stationing them in outer space . It specifically limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes, and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military maneuvers, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications (Article IV). However,

2397-472: The use of such resources encompasses the commercial use and exploitation. Seeking clearer guidelines, private U.S. companies lobbied the U.S. government, which in 2015 introduced the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 legalizing space mining. Similar national legislation to legalize the appropriation of extraterrestrial resources are now being introduced by other countries, including Luxembourg, Japan, China, India, and Russia. In addition,

2448-707: The weakest nations have the most to lose, but the cost for all would be high. Aside from changes in the US, populism in Europe has proven to be problematic to multilateralism in recent years. Results from direct elections to the European Parliament give evidence to this claim, as Eurosceptic parties have made advances. When enacting foreign policies, governments face a choice between unilateralism, bilateralism and multilateralism. Bilateralism means coordination with another single country. Multilateralism has attempted to find common ground based on generalized principles of conduct, in addition to details associated with

2499-427: Was one of the few attempts to challenge the Outer Space Treaty. It was promulgated in 1976 by eight equatorial countries to assert sovereignty over those portions of the geostationary orbit that continuously lie over the signatory nations' territory. These claims did not receive wider international support or recognition, and were subsequently abandoned. As the first international legal instrument concerning space,

2550-553: Was opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, and entered into force on 10 October 1967. As of March 2024, 115 countries are parties to the treaty, while another 22 have signed the treaty but have not completed ratification. Multiple dates indicate the different days in which states submitted their signature or deposition, which varied by location: (L) for London , (M) for Moscow , and (W) for Washington, D.C. Also indicated

2601-441: Was the most important link in the chain of international legal arrangements for space from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. OST was at the heart of a 'network' of inter-state treaties and strategic power negotiations to achieve the best available conditions for nuclear weapons world security. The OST also declares that space is an area for free use and exploration by all and "shall be the province of all mankind". Drawing heavily from

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