They have been great challenges facing the enforcement of this treaty due to unwillingness of member states to cooperate. The treaty is signed by 190 member state that convenes every five years to review implementation of the treaty and it core provision to nuclear weapon disarmament. The major challenges facing the implementation of the treaty is largely based on the perennial disagreement between nuclear powers. For instance, the existing tension between the United States and the Russian federation has hindered implementation of the treaty. Members states do not oblige to the rule lay down on the treaty. Acheson (2010) argues that Russia being the world largest nuclear weapon stockpiles has been accused of violating the treaty. Ideally, the treaty has been undermined for sometimes especially due to international dispute between the west and Russia. .
The major challenge facing the NPT is disarmament and proliferation. For instance, the five nuclear power states that are recognized by the NPT have applied a discriminatory character toward the treaty. The fact that after 45 years from the date it treaty entered into force nations have not obliged raises some serious question about nuclear disarmament. Disagreement between member states is squarely to blame for noncompliance. Actually, the reality is that instead of member states reducing their nuclear stockpile, they have embarked on nuclear modernization plan. For instance, Russia under the leadership of president Putin is under a $600 billion nuclear modernization plan. Moreover, Obama promise to introduce 1 trillion dollar modernization. The overwhelming modernization plan between member states raises question about the elimination of nuclear weapon and the credibility of their obligation to support the Article VI of the treaty.
Akiyama and Horio (2013) allude that the treaty has suffered challenges of violation by covert nuclear activities by other nations such as Libya, Iran and North Korea and Syria.
