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Disarmament and Globalisation
Project Initiative
Disarmament has almost disappeared from Western-led academic, civil society, and international political debate. The recent weak progress on disarmament by the international community compounds the real world problems of conventional and low-intensity war through destabilising accumulations and the threat of nuclear war: they damage the balance of rich economies and the development of poorer ones. This project is designed to re-energise an international constituency capable of carrying through a realistic risk-based global disarmament agenda linked to an effective trajectory for arms control based on applied international and development studies and public policy.
The context for this project includes the collapse of international efforts for disarmament after the golden decade of achievement from 1987-1997, and the call from Henry Kissinger and others in the US for a world free of nuclear weapons. The end of the 20th century saw hugely successful initiatives promoting worldwide action on issues such as climate change, poverty and AIDS. The globalisation of communications, political and social activities, and awareness of such movements has gelled disparate 'campaigns' to create tangible political progress unrivalled in history.
Can and should this effort be devoted to the issue of disarmament?
Is disarmament a realist necessity or a liberal accessory?
Read the full project proposal or summary
Strategic Concept for Reduction and Removal of Arms and Proliferation
Objectives:
Through collaborative and consultancy work the project will have as long term educational and research objectives to:
- Increase academic, elite and public awareness of the achievements of disarmament.
- Develop a globally relevant and holistic approach to the development of international disarmament policy that includes work on all forms of armaments including such perspectives as strategic and non-proliferation studies, human rights, humanitarian and development studies and inhumane weapons controls.
- Examine international public policy alternatives to disarmament and assess the realist character of disarmament.
- Study theoretical and international public policy proposals in earlier historical periods to seek items worth restoring to use.
- Research options for re-establishing the disarmament public policy agenda.
- Contribute to strengthening the epistemic community for disarmament in the overlapping groups and networks within academic, political and broader civil society.
- Engage with ongoing official and non-governmental processes.
Research Projects under consideration include:
A] Implementing the existing disarmament agenda:
- Implementing the Blix Commission proposal on a world summit on disarmament and proliferation in 2009 ahead of the NPT meeting in 2010. This idea may be a main focus of mass public diplomacy supported by educational materials on the achievements and potential of disarmament at all levels.
- Opening negotiations on the full implementation of Article VI of the NPT at the NPT Review Conference or an earlier summit. This work will be used in combination with public diplomacy to engage both traditional nuclear centred constituencies and those concerned with conventional arms to engage the NPT process, seeking to engage Northern NGOs with listening to a traditional demand of the developing world.
- Continuing development of research and constituency development on the Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East project.
- Funding permitting, the project will examine the impact of conventional warfare on proposed civil nuclear reactors in the region with a publication in 2010 prior to the NPT summit.
B] Developing new agendas through proposals and recommendations
I] Near term
- In response to the impending demise of START and deployment of ABM defence systems, the project will discuss multi-power and global options in longer range missile control and disarmament in the context of START, INF, SORT and MTCR. NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Council are examples of target institutions for regional approaches to these issues. This will build on ideas for a globalisation of INF proposed by former President Gorbachev and others.
- Extending CFE-style constraints (cuts and ceilings) and CSBMs to smaller calibre ordnance and ordnance on naval platforms and the potential and options to integrate naval controls extended from both WMD and land/air conventional agreements; relationship of constraints on conventional power projection with WMD related issues.
- Potential for extension of conventional/small arms controls and codes to address ordnance stocks and manufacturing; IAEA and START/INF production control precedents for the conventional arena.
- Further preventative methods through greater focus on stocks and holdings of weapons/ammunitions, and on production/manufacture through verification/monitoring.
- Development of synergy between conflict management and disarmament approaches, going beyond SSR/DDR by adding lasting arms control and CSBMs dimensions (national, regional) and mainstreaming arms control compliance into SSR models
- Options for prompt and effective cooperative destruction of surplus weapons and ordnance (conventional as well as WMD) in the greater Europe and elsewhere; reconciling international security concerns of illicit stock transfer and stock safety with cost factors and the difficulty and expense of environmentally neutral destruction.
II] Longer term
- Relating the development and application of the concept of 'global public goods' to disarmament per se and any treaties concerning disarmament in part as a response to and development of the idea of 'global public bads'
- Economic impact of the 'disarmament dividend', including public health and foreign aid opportunity cost. An important subset will be consideration of individual 'health economic' components as they relate to the other specific research areas (e.g. holdings and manufacture of weapons, the cost of stockpiles/re-armament or involved in the development of SSR approaches)
- The applicability of macro-modelling reductions in, or changing patterns of, arms spending being channelled through the health sector, and changes through globalisation to the trade in arms impacting differentially upon countries' health directly and economies indirectly through health and other avenues.
Disarmament and Globalisation: Old and New Wisdoms
Launch conference organised by the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS on 7 January 2008
Conference details here
Queries regarding the research programme can be directed to Poul-Erik Christiansen
pc42@soas.ac.uk
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