The Nobel Symposium on A Future Arms Control Agenda was organized by SIPRI to consider how arms control can contribute to creating a cooperative security system based on the peaceful resolution of disputes and the gradual demilitarization of international relations. The proceedings of the symposium include comprehensive discussions of the new normative and structural elements of the post-cold war global security system and the objectives and limits of arms control within that evolving system. Special attention is given to the changing roles and responsibilities of the major powers in arms control efforts. The role of transparency, verification and safeguards measures in arms control arrangements is analysed by a number of contributors. The subregional aspects of arms control are examined, in particular the uses of arms control instruments in conflict resolution and post-conflict settlement efforts. Approaches to enforcing norms codified in arms control treaties are considered, as are the international community's responses to activities by treaty parties which are judged to be contrary to those norms.

The Nobel Foundation's Symposium programme was initiated in 1965. The symposia have achieved a high standing and play a significant role in the international exchange of knowledge and experience. They are devoted to scientific or scholarly disciplines related to the Nobel Prize areas. The symposia are sponsored by the Nobel Foundation through its Nobel Symposium Fund.