Syria and Beyond: The Future of the Chemical Weapons Threat

The use of chemical weapons (CW) in Syria and the decision to award the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reminded the international community that these weapons continue to represent a serious threat. The number of incidents of chemical attacks has been increasing in recent years, and efforts to curb CW programs – apart from the joint mission in Syria – have generally proven unsatisfactory.
This paper attempts to clarify our understanding of this threat, starting from the enduring rationale for states and non-state actors to acquire CW as means of deterrence and terror, against perceived external and internal threats. It reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the regime established by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and offers recommendations to reinforce our ability to prevent further proliferation and better deal with issues of noncompliance. It finally highlights lessons from the Syrian case of coercive disarmament in terms of strategic credibility and enforcement of disarmament measures in a civil war context.
Download the full analysis
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
Syria and Beyond: The Future of the Chemical Weapons Threat
Related centers and programs
Discover our other research centers and programsFind out more
Discover all our analysesThe Evolving Role of Nuclear Rhetoric in Iran’s Strategic Calculus
How has the Iranian strategic discourse about nuclear weapons and deterrence evolved?
Design, Destroy, Dominate. The Mass Drone Warfare as a Potential Military Revolution
The widespread use of drones observed in Ukraine—both in terms of the scale of the fleets deployed and their omnipresence in the operations of both belligerents—appears to meet the conditions of a genuine military revolution.
The Hunt for Economic Security: The Role of Navies in Deterring Threats to the Maritime Economy
The maritime domain is currently faced with a wide variety of threats, such as climate change, economic warfare, shadow fleet operations, protection of critical infrastructures, and illicit activities ranging from illegal fishing to piracy. Navies suffer from inherent limitations when deterring threats to the global maritime economy: their global presence and permanence limits their credibility in terms of deterrence, their focus usually set on immediate deterrence, implementing deterrence by punishment in and from the naval domain is difficult and costly.
A Fragile Consensus? The Pressure on the Norm Against Nuclear Testing
Apart from North Korea, no state has conducted explosive nuclear tests in the 21st century, reflecting the emergence of a strong international norm against such testing.