Arms Race

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  • by Anup Shah
  • This page last updated

"I have seen how easy it is for nuclear contamination to occur, and how hard it is to clean it up.... Do nations possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons because of fear of attack from some other nation, or is it mainly because without them the stronger cannot otherwise exploit the weaker?" -- Andreas Toupadakis, who recently resigned from the "Stockpile Stewardship" program on nuclear weapons and worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was critical of US Nuclear policy1.

As the more powerful countries show less commitment to reducing their own arms substantially and continue to pursue their own national interests, they affect many others around the world.

  • This has led to an increase in resentment against them.
  • One option for nations that feel threatened has been to improve their defensive capabilities and increase arms purchases.
  • Neighboring countries will often feel the pressure to keep up, "just in case".
  • An increase in arms leads to an arms race and an increase in insecurity.

This part of the global issues web site has expanded into many sections in their own rights:

  • The Arms Control2 section looks at the issue of nuclear weapons
  • The Arms Trade3 section looks at the effects of trading weapons. It includes pages that look at other issues also related to arms control and arms races, such as:
    • Military Spending4
    • Landmines5
    • Small Arms6
    • A Code of Conduct for Arms Sales7
    • and more.

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Foreign Policy — Projecting Power

Read “Foreign Policy — Projecting Power” to learn more.

Author and Page Information

  • by Anup Shah
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  • Last updated:

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