World Order The term world order originated at the end of the Cold War. Many leaders hope that the end of communism and cold war would mark the beginning of a new era in which states would act collectively to address global problems that were beyond the capability of any of them to solve individually. As world order applies to a certain level of peace and stability, world order issues are those that relate to promoting peace and resolving conflicts between states. The importance of world order as a goal can be seen in dramatic growth and development of international war over the past 60 years. There has been a need for world order due to the high level of interdependence that has resulted from globalization. There are both benefits and threats from this interdependence: trade, finance, transport or security. The current world order is founded upon two principles state sovereignty and multilateralism. State sovereignty is a state's legal power and authority over everything that occurs within it. Multilateralism is corporation between multiple states for mutual benefits or to deal with common threats. Multilateralism often requires a surrender of some degree of sovereignty. (1) Cambridge Legal Studies HSC 3rd Edition, Milgate, Le Cornu, Hawke, Miller, Kelly, Steed, Webster, 2013, Cambridge University press. The Issue While it has been more than 20 years since the end of the cold war, the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons continues to pose a global threat. Nine countries are known or widely considered to possess nuclear weapons which are china France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States. It is estimated these nine countries collectively hold over 17300 nuclear warheads. The United States and Russia possess approximately 94% of the world's nuclear weapons. While the possibility of international war has greatly decreased since the end of the cold war, ongoing regional tensions between nuclear armed countries such as India and Pakistan pose a continued risk in this regard. Furthermore the continued existence of large deployed nuclear arsenals in many of the nuclear possessing states poses risk of accidental or unauthorised use. North Korea illicitly acquired nuclear weapons, and other countries, including Iran and Syria have violated their nuclear safeguard commitments and are suspected pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities. A number of efforts by governments, international governments, and non-governmental organisations are underway to attempt to mitigate the nuclear threat, but significantly reducing the risk of nuclear weapon use will require the sustained long term commitment of the entire international community. Detonation of these nuclear warheads would not only destroy targeted cities, but also cause massive ecological damage to the rest of the world. Countries with nuclear weapons have conducted approximately 2055 known tests, but nuclear weapons have only been used twice in warfare both times during World War 2. On august 6th 1945 the united states dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and three days later dropped a bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. North Korea currently possesses between 4 and 8 nuclear weapons. They have carried out 3 nuclear tests since October 9th 2006, May 25th 2009 and February 12th 2013. North Korea has been suspected of maintaining a nuclear development program since the early 1980s when it constructed a plutonium-producing Magnox nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. Many diplomatic means had been used by the international community to limit North Korea's nuclear work to peaceful and scientific means and encouraging North Korea to participate in international treaties. Legal Mechanisms International instruments have been key legal remedies in achieving nuclear disarmament. Multilateral treaties have effectively outlined ideal international standards of behaviours in relation to nuclear weapons. On 31st of July 1991 the START1 (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) treaty was signed and entered into force on December 1994. This was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 per cent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence. nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty came into force in 1970 when it was ratified by a sufficient number of states. The treaty is based on the 5 permanent members and all the other nation of the world that do not possess nuclear warheads. It aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to foster the peaceful uses of nuclear ene