From Advocacy to Diplomacy: the Case of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Abstract

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has become known for its active engagement in the drafting and promotion of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The success of the campaign is related to the fact that not only other anti-nuclear non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but also a number of state figures and diplomats have joined the campaign. ICAN is a "transnational advocacy network" (TAN) that has managed to engage a significant pool of state and non-state stakeholders (actors). This paper aims to explore the ICAN phenomenon and identify the features of this transnational advocacy network. The study is based on documents and materials drawn from the official ICAN website, working papers from the NPT Review Conferences, as well as interviews with representatives of anti-nuclear NGOs. The novelty of the study consists in the fact that a new interpretation of the concept of "transnational advocacy network" was introduced into Russian academic discourse and the main instruments and principles of TAN were identified on the basis of the ICAN example. The research of ICAN was carried out according to three bullet-points: (1) analysis of NGO activities in the NPT negotiation process; (2) identification of the features of ICAN as a TAN, the main trends and methods of work; (3) problems and limitations of ICAN. A hallmark of today's TANs is that they combine advocacy and examination, allowing such coalitions to work successfully with international organizations and states. ICAN is an interesting case study because there has been a convergence of interests between a number of states and anti-nuclear NGOs. However, the question still remains how long will it be able to keep functioning in the TAN format and continue to frame the agenda of the NPT Conferences? The drive to ban nuclear weapons, and then to lobby for the signing and ratification of the NPT, demonstrated that ICAN had moved from public activity to direct diplomacy. Nevertheless, there is reason to assume that ICAN and its coordinating role in the NPT negotiation process may become less important as the focus and interests of states shift back to public outreach activities.