Ireland: Frank Aiken's early steps to contain nuclear proliferation

This chapter examines Ireland's pivotal role in the origins of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, with particular focus on the diplomatic campaign led by Frank Aiken, Ireland's Minister for External Affairs, at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) between 1958 and 1961. Using multi-archival primary source approach, it argues that Aiken was the central architect of the first multilateral non-proliferation initiative, transforming a niche Irish foreign policy concern into a landmark framework for international arms control. The analysis shows how Irish neutrality, small state diplomacy, and Cold War bridge-building allowed Ireland to advance UNGA Resolutions 1380 (XIV), 1576 (XV), and the landmark Resolution 1665 (XVI) — the direct antecedent of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The chapter reveals the central paradox of Aiken's campaign: his most resistant interlocutors were not adversaries but ideological friends, chiefly the United States and NATO. He had to persuade them that non-proliferation served Western strategic interests. Situating Aiken's initiative within wider theories of middle-power diplomacy and the UN's conflict-reduction mission under Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, this chapter contributes to scholarship on nuclear history, Cold War multilateralism, Irish foreign policy, and the genesis of the non-proliferation norm.