The Arms Trade Treaty
The Arms Trade Treaty
Derek Matthews
International Relations
Abstract
The Arms Trade Treaty is the result of an international consensus that there is a need for global arms regulation. This belief began to develop after the Cold War in response to consequences facing the international community from countries whom purchased arms unimpeded and used them towards aggressive and oppressive ends. The Arms Trade treaty has been applauded as an initial framework to begin practical implementation of effective arms regulations through the context of international consensus in a way that will reduce egregious human rights violations and increase weapons accountability as well as regional stability. There are criticisms as to the future effectiveness of the treaty because the scope of the treaty covers arms sales, not other forms of arms transfer and because major arms exporters have abstained from participating in the treaty. These realities are staunch hurdles towards the future effectiveness of governing policies that may evolve from the treaty. Because the treaty has not reached the stage of ratification, an actual analysis of the impacts of this treaty have yet to be seen.
Background
The origins of the international arms regulation and thus, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) can be traced back to the start of the Cold War. NATO had an interest in slowing the transfer of advanced military technologies to the Soviet Union. They created the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) to block arms, industrial technologies, and “atomic” technologies from being exported to the Soviet Union from countries in the Warsaw Pact. This was not a nonproliferation regime and its limited scope proved ill-equipped to handle the emerging problems of the Post-Cold War era. This was evident during the 1991 Persian Gulf War where the Iraqi military was able to build the world’s fourth-largest military with $40 billion in foreign weapons purchases.(Lewis, 2005)
Derek Matthews
International Relations
Abstract
The Arms Trade Treaty is the result of an international consensus that there is a need for global arms regulation. This belief began to develop after the Cold War in response to consequences facing the international community from countries whom purchased arms unimpeded and used them towards aggressive and oppressive ends. The Arms Trade treaty has been applauded as an initial framework to begin practical implementation of effective arms regulations through the context of international consensus in a way that will reduce egregious human rights violations and increase weapons accountability as well as regional stability. There are criticisms as to the future effectiveness of the treaty because the scope of the treaty covers arms sales, not other forms of arms transfer and because major arms exporters have abstained from participating in the treaty. These realities are staunch hurdles towards the future effectiveness of governing policies that may evolve from the treaty. Because the treaty has not reached the stage of ratification, an actual analysis of the impacts of this treaty have yet to be seen.
Background
The origins of the international arms regulation and thus, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) can be traced back to the start of the Cold War. NATO had an interest in slowing the transfer of advanced military technologies to the Soviet Union. They created the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) to block arms, industrial technologies, and “atomic” technologies from being exported to the Soviet Union from countries in the Warsaw Pact. This was not a nonproliferation regime and its limited scope proved ill-equipped to handle the emerging problems of the Post-Cold War era. This was evident during the 1991 Persian Gulf War where the Iraqi military was able to build the world’s fourth-largest military with $40 billion in foreign weapons purchases.(Lewis, 2005)
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