Arms Transfer Limitations and Third World Security

Is the arms trade totally uncontrolled? What are the main obstacles to limitations on arms transfers? What can be learned from past attempts at arms transfer controls? This book assesses past efforts, current proposals and future possibilities to limit the transfer of weapons and military technology to Third World countries.

The arms trade is now a focus of international concern, as well as a key issue in the domestic politics of many arms supplier and recipient states. Not only are the implications of arms transfers vital to matters of security and the prudent use of limited resources, but the current arms market also generates clashes between short-term commercial and political gains and longer-term foreign policy goals. The most striking example of these forces at work is the case of arms transfers to Iraq and Iran during the 1980s.

Arms transfer limitation measures are extremely difficult to undertake, partly because national interests—instead of regional or global concerns—steer the willingness to restrain or not to restrain the arms trade. The contributors to this study conclude that attempts at multilateral arms transfer limitations are more likely to be successful if initiated by recipient rather than supplier countries, and they argue convincingly that, in order to pave the way for effective limitation measures, there is an urgent need for confidence-building measures that will modify attitudes towards such concepts as security.

Arms Transfer Limitations and Third World Security completes SIPRI's trilogy on the facts and implications of Third World buildups of major conventional weapons. It is a companion to the two SIPRI volumes Arms Production in the Third World (1986) and Arms Transfers to the Third World, 1971–85 (OUP, 1987).