As
Deepti Choubey explains in the
Christian Science Monitor , the NPT's practice of working by consensus precludes concrete action. “It’s a massive mistake,” says Choubey, deputy director of the nuclear policy program at the Ploughshares-funded
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . What has become the “consensus” rule means that urgent issues facing the international nuclear regime are often either put off for consideration five years later – or weakly addressed with what she calls a "lowest common denominator document.” But she sees better prospects for measures updating and strengthening the NPT coming out of this year’s conference.