Have you seen a
picture of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion? It brings a gamut of
emotions: fear, worry, awe, and wonder. The nuclear weapon has awesome power
and, without mincing words, has the capability to destroy mankind. Many want
these weapons reduced or removed altogether, and this sentiment is not a new
one. The call for disarmament, or a general reduction of weapons and
stockpiles, has always been an issue in world affairs. The United Nations has
had conferences and treaties to pursue a reduction in such weapons.
Disarmament is the process of reducing
or eliminating military forces and weapons through cooperation, treaties, and
oversight. Learn about disarmament in this lesson, and take a quiz at the end. Disarmament means the reduction of arms and weapons
through international treaties and agreements signed in between two or
more states. It’s an attempt to eliminate or radically reduce armaments.
It can be distinguished from the concept of arms control, which entails
restraint but not necessarily reduction in the number and kinds of weapons
available to states. Most disarmament proposals are based on the assumption
that weapons are an important source of conflict in themselves.
Definition
and Considerations
Disarmament is not
something that can be easily defined in a few words. In truth, there are four
key parts to it:
- Reduction
in quantity of military items
- Formal
meeting and treaty to achieve
- Emphasis
on weapons and tools
- Body or
group overseeing the process
These four parts lead
to a detailed definition, and a detailed plan of action as well. Disarmament is
usually focused on weapons, but can include other areas, such as tools and
technologies.
The United Nations
(U.N.) has been a mediator in arms reduction since the 1960s. They pass
resolutions (formal statements of their position), have special committees
focused solely on negotiating for disarmament, and have special units that
oversee and help with the process.
Ultimately, the main
purpose of disarmament is world peace and the survival of mankind. It is a
concept that has existed for more than 100 years in the modern world. With each
passing conflict, the weapons and tools marked for reduction have evolved. For
example, the big weapon in World War I was mustard gas, a biological weapon
that saw a post-war call for reductions. In the Cold War, nuclear weapons took
center stage.
History of Disarmament:
Historically,
disarmament has taken place in two contrasting ways. First, after a war,
disarmament has often been imposed on the defeated state by the victor.
For example, in 1919 the Treaty of Versailles limited the German
army to 100,000 troops, thereby effectively eliminating an army
that could be capable of offensive
activity. A similar restriction was placed on Germany and Japan
after the Second World War. But still the victors have been unable to
remain united and unwilling to act together to enforce these prohibitions. Nazi
Germany established training area sand munitions factories in the Soviet
Union after the First World War without suffering any penalties, and as the
cold war intensified after 1945, a primary concern of US foreign policy
became rebuilding the military might of Japan and West Germany. The other type
of disarmament is voluntary disarmament, in which states seek to
negotiate a mutually acceptable framework within which all parties will reduce
the size of their military establishments.
Types
of disarmament:
While
the ultimate logic of disarmament points to the total elimination of all
weapons, the main types of disarmament plans can be identified.
A
first type of disarmament is General and Complete Disarmament (GCD),
which seeks the total elimination of all weapons. If this ever happened, the
fundamental nature of international relations would be radically transformed.
A
second form of disarmament is regional disarmament. It seeks to reduce
or to eliminate weapons from a particular geographic area. Over the last five
decades regional disarmament plans have frequently taken the form of proposals
for nuclear-free zones. A major barrier to the successful negotiation of such
agreements is that,once a state in a region has acquired nuclear weapons, it is
difficult
to prevent others from doing likewise. This was the main problem that
ultimately prevented the implementation of the often proposed South Asian
Nuclear-Free Zone. Today, both India and Pakistan possess
nuclear weapons, and the proposal looks very unlikely to be implemented in the
foreseeable future. However, the history of regional disarmament is not all
hopeless. Four main regional agreements remain in effect.
- In 1967
the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, also
known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco, was signed. This treaty
prohibits the testing, possession, and deployment of nuclear weapons in
the region.
- Similarly,the
1959 Antarctic Treaty bans the use of Antarctica for military
purposes, including nuclear testing.
- In 1967
an Outer Space Treaty prohibited states from placing nuclear
weapons in earth orbit or stationing them in outer space.
- In 1971
a treaty was signed banning states from placing nuclear weapons on the
seabed known as Seabed Treaty.
While
the existence of such treaties may provide supporters of disarmament with some
hope that they can be extended, it should be pointed out that treaties such as
those just mentioned are not strictly about disarmament.Rather, they represent
agreements by states not to develop weapons that they were not planning to
build in the first place and not to deploy weapons in areas that are of
peripheral strategic value. Were these conditions ever to change, it is
unlikely that the mere existence of such treaties would deter states from
breaking them.
Conferences
and Treaties
There have been many
international conferences that have attempted disarmament among the nations of
the world. Often, the meetings have ended in some sort of treaty or agreement.
Such agreements sought to end the use of a certain weapon and create an
enforcement body. Here are some examples:
- International
Peace Conference (Hague Convention) 1899: outlined rules of war and
prohibited the use of balloon-dropped weapons, poison gas, and specific
ammunition
- London
Naval Conferences of 1908-1909, 1930, and 1935: listed military items that
could not be shipped on open seas, created regulations for confiscating
them, and created and modified restrictions on the size of naval vessels
- Washington
Naval Conference (1921-1922) and Geneva Naval Conference (1927): created
ratios for naval power based on a country's size and international
presence; some countries had to scrap entire ships
- World
Disarmament Conference (1932-1934): Attempting to avoid another WWI, it
sought to reduce offensive attack weapons (versus those for defense) and
create an international police unit to enforce disarmament. However, Adolf
Hitler rose to power during the conference and all attention was turned to
Germany's aggression.
- Baruch
Plan and Gromyko Plan (1946): competing U.S. and Soviet Union plans to
reduce and eliminate atomic weapons and create a control system for future
weapons; both plans failed
- Nuclear
Test-Ban Treaty (1963): restricted where nuclear weapons could be tested
and strategically placed
