What is disarmament?

Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a
country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of
weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms.

General and Complete Disarmament refers to the removal of all weaponry, including conventional arms.
Disarmament can be contrasted with arms control, which essentially refers to the act of controlling arms rather
than eliminating them. A distinction can also be made between disarmament as a process (the process of
eliminating weapons), and disarmament as an end state (the absence of weapons).

Disarmament and Arms Control (7

Arguments)
The case in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control stands supported on the
following grounds:

(i) Armaments lead to War, Disarmament can lead to Peace:

All the people of the world want peace and they believe that since armaments lead
to war, disarmament can lead to peace. Armaments lead to armament race and
armament race leads to war. Hence armaments constitute the cause of war and by
eliminating the cause through disarmament, war can be eliminated.

Disarmament, as such, constituents a direct approach to peace and arms control

constitutes advance measures and remedies against war. As Coheen observes,
Armaments aggravate tension and fear among nations. By releasing tension and
fear, disarmament should facilitate and strengthen the process of peaceful
settlement.

(ii) Armaments lead to Militarism which leads to War:

It is held that armaments make war not only physically possible but also politically
probable. Armaments encourage militarism and militarism leads to tensions and
fear. Rather than creating a sense of security, armaments in the ultimate form,
always create a feeling of insecurity, give rise to mutual jealousy and rivalry, and
thereby make the situation so tense that countries often get involved in wars and
armed conflicts.

(iii) Disarmament can reduce many tensions in International

Relations:
Destruction of instruments of war can secure peace. By ending the instrumentalities
of war, disarmament can end war, It is believed that by doing away with one of the
typical manifestations of the struggle for power (armament race) on the international
scene, one can do away with the typical efforts of that struggle international anarchy
and war.Morgenthau

(iv) Economic Arguments in favour of Disarmament and Arms

Control:
A very strong and potent argument in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control is
that through disarmament the humankind can save a very large amount of funds,
which is currently being wasted on the fruitless and dangerous production of
armaments. These funds can be used for human welfare and developmental
purposes.

Disarmament can release huge economic resources which can be used for securing
the developmental needs of all the people of world. A reduction in nations
armaments releases sizable funds, which could be transferred to programmes
designed to improve the general welfare of that nations citizens. In the timeless
dilemma of choosing between guns and butter, the advocates of arms reduction opt
for the latter. Wolfe and Couloumbis

(v) Need of Peace Race in place of Arms Race:

Peace race and not armament race is what humankind really needs. It is really
an irony that when millions of people in several countries of the globe are perishing
due to hunger and disease, many countries are spending a huge proportion of their
incomes and resources on the production of armaments.
(vi) Moral argument in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control:
Another strong and philosophically most effective argument in favour of
disarmament is the moral argument. It holds that war is morally wrong, and so is the
preparation of war. War is evil and immoral because it involves killings. Since
armaments are the means of war, these are also evil. In-fact armaments production
is the beginning of the immoral process of war. It is always rational and moral to nip
the evil in the bud. Elimination of war demands the elimination of arms and
armament race.

(vii) Disarmament is a Universal Objective:

A practical argument, and indeed a very strong argument, in favour of disarmament
is that the present craze for armaments is aggravating further the MAD situation and
is making humankind more and more dependent upon machines, or more
specifically on war machines. It has increased the risk of an all destructive
accidental war.

It is a recognized fact that when machines start ruling men, they escape control and
run rampant. The growing dangers of modern electronic warfare pose the biggest
danger to humankind from an accidental war leading to total destruction. The need,
therefore, is to take timely action in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control and
save humankind from the present dangerously posed MAD situation in international
relations. All these arguments together build a strong case in favour of Disarmament
and Arms Control. History of Efforts towards Disarmament and Arms Control.

Disarmament and Arms Control in

International Relations (6
Hindrances)
Several factors have been hindering the process of securing Disarmament and Arms
Control in international relations.
1. Faith in Armaments:
The first hindrance is the view that supports armaments as an essential means for
the exercise of power of the state. States continue to depend upon armaments and
are not likely to give them up or accept serious restrictions on these until alternative
means of serving their interests and purposes have been established.

2. The Problem of Ratios of Strength:

Another big hindrance in the way of disarmament is the fact that agreement on
disarmament presupposes agreement on ratios of strength among weapons and
armed establishment of various nations. There exists no scientific basis for fixing the
ratios among the weapons. Armaments and armed establishments which the
different states possess ,makes it very difficult to make a decision regarding the
allocation of different quantities and types of armaments to different nations within
the agreed ratio.

3. The Problem of Implementation of Agreements on Ratios:

Even if there may be an agreement on the ratios of power that ought to prevail
among states seeking disarmament, there would still be great obstacles to
disarmament. Different states are bound to have more or less power in international
relations. This is bound to be there because military factor itself is always dependent
upon several other factors. Nations with allocated ratios of armaments and military
power are bound to be motivated differently in favour or against war. Hence, even
the fixation of ratio of strength of armaments cannot fully solve the problem of
disarmament.

4. The continued Distrust among Nations:

The existence of strong distrust among several nations makes it difficult for the
international community to go in for disarmament and arms control. The
disarmament plans which from time to time are offered by various nations are mostly
based upon fear and distrust and that is why these always contain several
reservations and Joker Clauses which some nations can never be expected to
accept

If there were perfect trust among nations, arms would be unnecessary, and
disarmament would not be a problem Schleicher

5. Sense of Insecurity among Nations:

Another big hindrance in the way of disarmament is the sense of insecurity among
nations. Armament is considered to be a source and a symbol of security, and
disarmament is regarded as a condition which can lead to insecurity. Further, tanks,
aero planes, rockets, bombs, all make it easier for statesmen to display power of the
state and their achievements.

6. Political Rivalry and Disputes:

The existence of strong political rivalry and disputes among nations has been a
potent hindrance in the way of disarmament. Political rivalry among the states has
been a source of armament race in international relations and in this way it has
acted as a road-block in the way of disarmament and arms control.

Besides these six key hindrances, the highly dynamic nature of military technology
and the importance of armament industry in the existing international economic
system constitute the other two big hindrances. Further, along with these, the
continued love for narrowly conceived national sovereignties has been acting as a
general hindrance in the way of disarmament and arms control.

In actual practice, the biggest hindrance in the way of disarmament and arms control
in the contemporary era of international relations happens to be the difference in
approach of several nations towards this objective.

Powerful nations like the USA want arms control and disarmament in respect of
strategic and medium range nuclear armament and leave aside the question of
nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction that they possess. Many
other nations, however, give first priority to nuclear disarmament followed by arms
control and general disarmament.

Analyzing the chances of a disarmament agreement, Schleicher has observed, The

possibility and probability of an international agreement on disarmament and arms
control, its nature and effectiveness, depends largely upon several key factors.

Of these, two are favourable factors:

(1) The fear of nuclear war, the desire for peace and the belief that arms contribute
to tension and war, and

(2) The instabilities and dangers growing out of the unregulated arms race.

On the other hand, there are four serious obstacles:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

(1) Nationalism and sovereignty;

(2) The problem of the ratio;

(3) Distrust among nations; and

(4) The unwillingness of the nuclear powers to liquidate their nuclear weapons and
other weapons of mass destruction.

Two additional factors have been also present,

(1) The priority of disarmament or the settlement of political problems; and

(2) Economic considerations of Arms Market.

Both these factors work for and against agreement. Of these factors, the hindering
factors appear to be more formidable than the favourable factors. That is why
progress towards Disarmament and Arms Control has tended to be very slow and
quite small.