Any restraint exercised by one or more countries over the level, type, deployment, and use of their armaments, occurring through agreement or unilaterally. Its aim is to reduce the possibility of war and/or reduce its consequences. It is premised on the notion that states can reduce arms to their mutual benefit, including that of reducing the burden of costs, without abandoning their hostile stance. Originating in the USA in the 1950s, it has gained increasing acceptance as a policy: several major agreements have been reached about nuclear missiles, as well as about biological and chemical weapons.
Arms control is an umbrella term for restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation, and usage of weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the use of diplomacy which seeks to impose such limitations upon consenting participants through international treaties and agreements, although it may also comprise efforts by a nation or group of nations to enforce limitations upon a non-consenting country.
On a national or community level, arms control can amount to programs to control the access of private citizens to weapons.
Enactment
Arms control treaties and agreements are often seen as a way to avoid costly arms races which would prove counter-productive to national aims and future peace. Additionally, some arms control agreements are entered to limit the damage done by warfare, especially to civilians and the environment, which is seen as bad for all participants regardless of who wins a war.
While arms control treaties are seen by many peace proponents as a key tool against war, by the participants, they are often seen as simply ways to limit the high costs of the development and building of weapons, and even reduce the costs associated with war itself. Arms control can even be a way of maintaining the viability of military action by limiting those weapons that would make war so costly and destructive as to make it no longer a viable tool for national policy.
Enforcement
Enforcement of arms control agreements has proven difficult over time. Usually, when a nation no longer desires to abide by the terms, they usually will seek to either covertly circumvent the terms or to simply end their participation in the treaty. This was seen in Washington Naval Treaty (and the subsequent London Naval Treaty), where most participants sought to work around the limitations, some more legitimately than others. The United States developed better technology to get better performance from their ships while still working within the weight limits, the United Kingdom exploited a loop-hole in the terms, the Italians misrepresented the weight of their vessels, and when up against the limits, Japan simply left the treaty. The nations which violated the terms of the treaty did not suffer great consequences for their actions.
More recent arms control treaties have included more stringent terms on enforcement of violations as well as verification. This often involves as much negotion as the limits themselves, and in some cases questions of verification have led to the breakdown of treaty negotiations (for example, verification was cited as a major concern by opponents of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, ultimately not ratified by the United States).
Nations may remain in a treaty while seeking to break the limits of that treaty as opposed to simply withdrawing from it.
Theory of Arms Control
Scholars and practitioners such as John Steinbruner, Jonathan Dean or Stuart Croft worked extensively on the theoretical backing of arms control.
History of Arms Control
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One of the first recorded attempts in arms control was a set of rules laid down in ancient Greece by the Amphictyonic Leagues.
There were few recorded attempts to control arms during the period between this and the rise of the Roman Catholic Church.
The development of firearms led to an increase in the devastation of war.
One treaty which was concluded was the Strasbourg Agreement of 1675. The treaty was signed between France and Germany
The 1817 Rush-Bagot Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom was the first arms control treaty of what can be considered the modern industrial era, leading to the demilitarisation of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain region of North America.
A Second Hague Conference was called in 1907 leading to additions and amendments to the original 1899 agreement.
After the First World War the League of Nations was set up which attempted to limit and reduce arms.
The 1925 Geneva Conference led to the banning of chemical weapons (as toxic gases) during war as part of the Geneva Protocol.
After World War II the United Nations was set up as a body to promote world peace. The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed to prevent further spread of nuclear weapons technology to countries outside the five that already possessed them: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China.
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the United States and Soviet Union in the late 1960s/early 1970s led to further weapons control agreements. The SALT I talks led to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an Interim Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement (see SALT I, both in 1972. Due to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the United States never ratified the treaty, however the agreement was honoured by both sides.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed between the United States and Soviet Union in 1987 and ratified in 1988, leading to an agreement to destroy all missiles with ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometres.
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention was signed banning the manufacture and use of chemical weapons.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties were signed, as START I and START II by the US and Soviet Union further restricting weapons. This was further moved on by the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1996 banning all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes.
List of treaties and conventions related to arms control
Some of the more important international arms control agreements follow:
Washington Naval Treaty, 1922 (as part of the naval conferences) Geneva Protocol on chemical and biological weapons, 1925 and its two augumentations: Biological Weapons Convention, 1972 Chemical Weapons Convention, 1993 Outer Space Treaty, 1967 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1968 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, 1972 Environmental Modification Convention, 1976 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, 1987 Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), 1987 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, 1992 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), 1994 Wassenaar Arrangement, 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 1996 Open Skies Treaty, 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), 2003
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