Assessing the effectiveness of security regimes — the Chemical Weapons Control regime's first six years of operation

This article analyses the effectiveness of the implementation of the chemical weapons control regime. It first provides an overview of the concept of international regimes and their effectiveness, and secondly identifies the basic components of the CW control regime, that is, its underlying principles and norms. In order to assess the effectiveness of the regime, activities of states parties to the regime as well as the OPCW are analysed across five key areas: (1) the disarmament dimension of the regime; (2) its non-proliferation dimension; (3) international cooperation and assistance activities; (4) the operation of the OPCW as such; and (5) the OPCW's adaptation to changes in science and technology related to the CWC. The final section of the paper concludes that the regime in its initial phase shows an adequate level of effectiveness, but cautions that in order to justify such an assessment in the future implementation activities have to be stepped up.