Global Engagement

The dramatic, world-wide political changes of the past four years have presented both a unique opportunity for forging a new basis of international security relations and also exposed new areas of instability. The end of the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Persian Gulf war, and the resurgent role of the United Nations in security affairs have transformed the driving issues of international security and offer the potential for global co-operation on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, many of these events have also sparked heightened concerns over the problems of regional conflict, the international arms trade and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This book thoroughly examines the concept of co-operative security, which aims to address these issues by seeking international agreements that would regulate the size, technical composition, investment patterns and operational practices of all military forces for mutual benefit. Rather that resisting aggression once it has occurred, co-operative security seeks to establish a set of regimes which will severely hamper the ability of a nation to effectively organize and execute an act of aggression against another. The contributors examine the problem of controlling advanced conventional munitions; analyze an integrated control arrangement combining the existing controls on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, on dual-use and ballistic missile technology, and on conventional weapons sales; discuss international principles of equity and their relationship to problems of security; and offer coverage of regional political perspectives and special regional problems.