Political Science Essay, Research Paper

What is the role of the arms trade in the international system?

The controversial arms trade continues to bedevil the international system. Although the world arms trade continues to decline in dollar value, the major arms supplying states have redoubled their efforts to export their weapons overseas. This decline has occurred in both the richer and poorer countries, although the rate of decline has been greater for the large industrial countries. The decline in arms sales could also relate to the increase in black and gray market arm sales, which may run anywhere from two to five times more than the legal sales in some countries. Also, not every country publicly reports all sales.

Arms-control policy rests at the intersection of defense and diplomacy. During the cold war, arms control became a key tool for managing the strategic relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective alliance systems. Arms control also developed along multilateral lines, producing universal agreements intended to limit proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to stop nuclear testing. Today, there are major questions about the future of arms control.

There are broad philosophical questions about the role of arms control in an evolving Western relationship with the East. To what extent do traditional arms control approaches tend to perpetuate the structure, if not the practice, of an adversarial relationship. Should the United States strive to replace negotiations on arms control with defense cooperation with the East, based on the assumption of common goals? This could lead to a degree of openness in defense planning and deployments.

Both a strong defense and effective diplomacy depend on U.S. decision makers having access to the best possible intelligence. The U.S. intelligence community faces a continuing crisis. It is generally agreed that the United States still need the ability to retrieve, analyze and present information to the President and senior policymakers, but with the Soviet Union gone, there appears to be no consensus on the priorities that should guide intelligence collection and production. There is even less agreement on the role that clandestine intelligence activities should play in the new international order. Maybe a clearer focus on U.S. interests, objectives and values will help shape future intelligence priorities. With the Middle East, East Asia, and Western Europe becoming the dominant arms importing regions, the U.S. has to find a way to stop the arms race and continue the peacefulness in the international community.

The biggest change in the arms market is that nations are no longer offering stripped down export versions of top of the line equipment like aircraft and armored vehicles. Now suppliers are offering state of the art electronics, optics, and munitions to potential buyers. At almost any arms exhibition, sellers are displaying and in most cases offering to sell a variety of weapons ranging from diesel submarines to portable surface to air missiles.

Finally, the debate over the advantages and the disadvantages of multilateral cooperation now seems to have found some common ground. The United States cannot count on international organizations to defend its interests. Like many other nations in the international system, it must reserve the right and ability to act unilaterally when necessary to protect itself militarily, politically, and economically. On the other hand in an increasingly interdependent world, even the sole surviving superpower cannot afford to go at it alone. It would cost much more than the American people are willing to pay. In addition U.S. influence and power are generally strengthened when U.S. goals are shared by international organizations and supported by key allies. Multilateral cooperation will most likely remain a key tool for implementing the U.S. role in the 21st century world. U.S leadership in multilateral forums such as the UN Security Council will be one of the ingredients that determine whether or not international cooperation works.