The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (npt) is in deep crisis. But would we really miss the npt? Even without the npt, a nuclear avalanche with ever more countries going nuclear would be unlikely. A collapse of the npt would also not mean the end of nuclear disarmament. But we would still miss the npt: International coalition building against potential nuclear proliferators would become much harder if not impossible; transparency and confidence building would be lost just at a time when ever more countries become interested in the civilian use of nuclear technology; the idea of cooperating between nations to organize restraint in terms of access to the most destructive weapons and technologies for military purposes would go astray.