For this study, a group of Russian authors were commissioned to describe and assess the arms trade policies and practices of Russia under new domestic and international conditions. The contributors, drawn from the government, industry, and academic communities, offer a wide range of reports on the political, military, economic, and industrial implications of Russian arms transfers, as well as specific case studies of key bilateral arms transfer relationships.
This book provides a unique and comprehensive commentary on the Arms Trade Treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, with several contributors having direct involvement in the negotation of the Treaty.
Small Arms are responsible for over half a million deaths each year. Despite this terrifying statistic, millions of guns flow into the streets of the world each year. It is a multi-billion dollar industry, and one which is barely regulated. From AK-47s to M16 rifles; from Terrorist-owned shoulder-fired missiles to child soldiers, this enlightening guide reveals the disturbing reality behind the murky underworld of international arms trading. Explaining how deals can often operate on the edge of legality, and listing the world’s main players, it goes on to ask how the exchange of small arms can be tightened in the future. Full of insight and anticipating the danger of ever lighter and more powerful weapons, this is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the world today and one of the key threats to development, prosperity and international peace.
The Shadow World presents the behind-the-scenes tale of the global arms trade, exposing in forensic detail the deadly collusion that too often exists among senior politicians, weapons manufacturers, felonious arms dealers, and the military--a situation that compromises our security and undermines our democracy. Now a major PBS documentary "An authoritative guide to the business of war. Chilling, heartbreaking, and enraging."--Arundhati Roy Andrew Feinstein reveals the cover-ups behind a range of weapons deals, from the largest in history--between the British and Saudi governments---to the guns-for-diamonds deals in Africa and the current $60 billion U.S. weapons contract with Saudi Arabia. Based on pathbreaking reporting and unprecedented access to top-secret information, The Shadow World takes us into a clandestine realm that is as vitally important as it is shocking.
The multi-billion dollar business of the international conventional arms trade involves virtually every country in the world. Around the globe, people's lives are being irrevocably changed by the effects of guns, tanks, and missiles. These weapons have the potential to cause a deadly and current threat - one responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths a year. This succinct and accessible new book explores the complexities and realities of the global conventional weapons trade. The first book on the subject in nearly a decade, The International Arms Trade provides an engaging introduction to the trade, the effects, and the consequences of these weapons. The authors trace the history of the arms trade and examine how it has evolved since the end of the Cold War. In particular, they assess the role of the largest arms exporters and importers, the business of selling conventional arms around the world, and shed new light on the illicit arms trade and the shadowy dealers who profit from their deadly commerce. The book also looks closely at the devastating effect the business can have on countries, societies, and individuals and concludes with an evaluation of the various existing control strategies and the potential for future control opportunities. The International Arms Trade will be invaluable for students and scholars of international relations and security studies, and for policymakers and anyone interested in understanding more about the conventional arms trade.
The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty became binding international law in late 2014, and although the text of the treaty is a relatively concise framework for assessing whether to authorize or deny proposed conventional weapons transfers by States Parties, there exists controversy as to the meaning of certain key provisions. Furthermore, the treaty requires a national regulatory body to authorize proposed transfers of conventional weapons covered by the treaty, but does not detail how such a body should be established and how it should effectively function. The Arms Trade Treaty: A Commentary explains in detail each of the treaty provisions, the parameters for prohibitions or the denial of transfers, international cooperation and assistance, and implementation obligations and mechanisms. As states ratify and implement the Treaty over the next few years, the commentary provides invaluable guidance to government officials, commentators, and scholars on the meaning of its contentious provisions. This volume describes in detail which weapons are covered by the treaty and explains the different forms of transfer that the Arms Trade Treaty regulates. It covers international human rights, trade, disarmament, humanitarian law, criminal law, and state-to-state use of force, as well as the application of the treaty to non-state actors.
This volume is about the guns that fuel the huge toll of deaths in the world's most bloody conflicts at the turn of the century. Whether it is Africa, Sri Lanka or even Chechnya and Afghanistan, it is not heavy weaponry or hi-tech devices that kill the most people, but the flood of cheap, easy to get, small arms that has swept over so many countries in the 80s and 90s. Crime rates involving guns within countries have also soared, as South Africa and Kenya, for example, have experienced. Yet a lot of this cross-border arms trade is illegal. So much so that several governments, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, are now pressing for rapid negotiation of a new global treaty on illegal trafficking in small arms.
Even though impacts generated by the widespread availability and ongoing use of small arms and light weapons have not reached a magnitude sufficient to radically reorder contemporary world affairs, awareness of the nature and extent of these impacts has compelled some international actors to take decisive action. Damien Rogers examines how the international community has responded to the challenge of controlling small arms and light weapons since the early 1990s. Using a postinternationalist analytic framework, he specifically focuses on the maturing relationships between particular actors of world affairs and the nascent interconnectivity between their strategies for, and approaches toward, controlling these weapons. Furthermore, the book identifies ways in which the captains of small arms industry, arms brokers and chief users of these weapons are able to mitigate, resist or elude the intended effects of those responses.
This book initiates with the story of the evolution of firearms to enable the reader to appreciate the sequence of the development of firearms. It discusses different classes of small arms, their mechanics, internal and external ballistics. Further, it covers the design idea of barrels and actions, various operating principles and relevant discussion on ammunition and propellants. The principle of quality in the design of the small arms is also elaborated in the desired degree. The book brings out the relevance of modern manufacturing technologies like MIM and various surface treatments, and polymers for enhancement of product quality. To appreciate the sophistication of the architecture, the book presents the anatomical details of a few small arms of reputes. Provides complete understanding of overall small weapon systems Explores mechanics and physics of small arms Discusses proper design, quality control, and manufacturing process selections for a good weapon Covers common type of weapon failures and catastrophic failure Includes relevance of manufacturing processes The book is aimed at professionals and graduate students in Mechanical Design, Armament Design, Gun Design including personnel in the military, paramilitary, police, and all other armed forces and their maintenance crews.
The United Nations's groundbreaking Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which went into effect in 2014, sets legally binding standards to regulate global arms exports and reflects the growing concerns toward the significant role that small and major conventional arms play in perpetuating human rights violations, conflict, and societal instability worldwide. Many countries that once staunchly opposed shared export controls and their perceived threat to political and economic autonomy are now beginning to embrace numerous agreements, such as the ATT and the EU Code of Conduct. Jennifer L. Erickson explores the reasons top arms-exporting democracies have put aside past sovereignty, security, and economic worries in favor of humanitarian arms transfer controls, and she follows the early effects of this about-face on export practice. She begins with a brief history of failed arms export control initiatives and then tracks arms transfer trends over time. Pinpointing the normative shifts in the 1990s that put humanitarian arms control on the table, she reveals that these states committed to these policies out of concern for their international reputations. She also highlights how arms trade scandals threaten domestic reputations and thus help improve compliance. Using statistical data and interviews conducted in France, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Erickson challenges existing IR theories of state behavior while providing insight into the role of reputation as a social mechanism and the importance of government transparency and accountability in generating compliance with new norms and rules.
