Arms Trade

Since China's rapid growth and expansion in the international arms markets of the 1980s, no in-depth and comprehensive study has fully addressed the motives and implications of the burgeoning Chinese arms export trade. This work fills that gap in our understanding and, at the same time, sheds light on Chinese foreign policy and security goals, while considering the future of Chinese arms exports and their impact on regional security in the years ahead.

With the end of the Cold War, many of the old threats to European security have disappeared. New ones, however, are now emerging, particularly in the light of the rise of nationalism and the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons to politically unstable countries. The Role and Control of Weapons in the 1990's examines these security issues - the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Third World, the threat from international terrorists, the environmental damage caused by modern warfare - to argue that control over weapons of mass destruction must be dramatically increased.

With the post-cold war emphasis on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the neglected dimension has been the spread of advanced conventional arms. Yet these are the arms most likely to be used in conflict. They present the greatest diversion from economic and social development, and are the centerpiece of regional security balances. This book examines the policies and practices of the major arms-supplying nations, looks at the impact of weapons purchases on the principal recipient regions and the possibilities for regional arms control, and dissects the economics of arms exports for the producer nations in both the developing and industrialized worlds. The book thoroughly discusses the opportunities for, and obstacles to, achieving multilateral restraint on arms. In addition to the editor, contributors are Ian Anthony, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; Nicole Ball, Overseas Development Council; Julian Cooper, University of Birmingham; Lawrence Freedman and Martin Navias, King's College, London; Rodney Jones, Policy Architects International; Ethan Kapstein, University of Minnesota; Michael Klare, Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies; Andrew Mack, Australian National University; Abdel Monem Said Aly, Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Cairo; Janne Nolan, Brookings Institution; Andrew Ross, Naval War College; Gerald Segal, International Institute for Strategic Studies; and Gerald Steinberg, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Copublished with the World Peace Foundation