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wars. Supporters also argue that while weapons purchases may direct
some resources away from civilian use in the Third World, they have not
prevented economic development. Finally, they suggest that whilst the
export of arms can be used for the purposes of repression, those
weapons can also be used to deter aggression and to maintain regional
balances of power. Of course, such arguments are entirely self-serving,
but they are worth bearing in mind if only because the burden of proof
lies with those who support the arms trade rather than its opponents.
There have been some important developments in recent years to
regulate the arms trade. These include efforts to control the export of
long-range ballistic missiles and land mines, and the promotion of
greater transparency in the reporting of arms transfers. In 1991 the
United Nations General Assembly voted to establish an annual register
of imports and exports of major weapons systems, although the register
remains a voluntary instrument. Little work has been done, however, to
regulate the growing black market in arms transfers.
See also: arms control; arms race; cold war; disarmament; foreign aid;
war; wars of the third kind
Further reading: Craft, 1999; Kaldor, 1999; Klare and Lumpe, 1998; Krause, 1992;
Laurance, 1992
BALANCE OF POWER
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All balance of power systems have certain conditions in common:
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this case, one state’s greater military and economic strength does
not necessarily give it preponderance because weaker states can
combine against it.
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and their particular relationships. Second, since the origins of the mod-
ern state system in the seventeenth century, there are too few cases of
different systems across which one can make meaningful comparisons.
The balance of power is a dynamic concept which, in practice, has to
be understood in context. For example, it is difficult to draw conclu-
sions about the allegedly bipolar balance of the cold war when so
much of the competition between the United States and the former
Soviet Union revolved around the novel challenges of the nuclear era.
Further reading: Haas, 1953; Kegley and Raymond, 1992; Layne, 1993;
Mearsheimer, 1990; Wagner, 1993; Waltz, 1979; Wilkinson, 1999
BEGGAR-THY-NEIGHBOUR POLICIES
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