This book analyzes the underlying structure and dynamic forces that have shaped the international trade in arms from the development of military technologies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to the twentieth-century revolutions in weaponry. The author discusses the political, economic and military motivations that drive states to produce and export arms, and examines the different ways in which states respond to these motivations. By focusing on the processes of technological innovation and diffusion he is able to sketch an evolutionary picture of the diffusion of new military...

The increasingly multilateral and regional nature of security building has given great prominence to cross-cultural aspects of international dialogue. The case studies in this collection examine how and when cultural elements affect arms control and security-building negotiations and policies. They treat issues such as religious, communal and normative orientations towards war and peace; the impact of legacies of conflict, colonialism and state building; attitudes towards regional and multilateral relations; cultural styes of diplomacy and negotiation; the nature of civil-military relations;...

Highlights emerging trends and concerns regarding armed violence and small arms proliferation as well as related policies and programming.

Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state's Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use of force, yet their origins, evolution, violent dynamics, and relations with state power are poorly...