Marek Thee

Militarism and Militarization in Contemporary International Relations

instrument of prevalence and political power, and the increasing influence of the military in civilian affairs. Seen from this angle, militarism has indeed become a global phenomenon. I understand ’militarization’ as being an extension of military influence to civilian spheres, including economy and socio-political life. The impact of militarism and militarization, in a disguised or open form, is deeply felt in international relations, and increasingly in the internal life of many nations as well.

Third World Armaments Structure and Dynamics

concern. Though Third World military expenditures are low as compared with those of the industrialized world excluding China, they represented in 1980 only 16% of global military spendings they exhibit an extraordinary growth-rate. While global military expenditures in real terms during the 1970s increased by 20%, Third World spendings in the same period (excluding China) more than doubled 1

The Nuclear Arms Race

highlighted dramatically the imminent dangers inherent in the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation. All five nuclear powers conducted nuclear tests, and the July 1974 U.S.-Soviet agreement on the continuation of underground nuclear tests came to underline both the weapon-development purpose and the permanency of the design for the foreseeable future. Moreover, in May 1974 the ’nuclear club’ was joined by a poor, underdeveloped country, India. And finally, the oil crisis prompted a rush for nuclear

Arms Control: The Retreat From Disarmament The Record to Date and the Search for Alternatives

The main thesis in this paper is that arms control as implemented in recent years and reflected in a number of multilateral and bilateral US-Soviet accords has not halted the arms race, but rather impelled its course. An effort must be made to change direction and initiate the process of real disarmament. Arms control has meant a retreat from disarmament. It has come to symbolize a practice of building security not on less but on more arms. Deterrence has become the main theme of arms control, and has meant the establishment of a threat system which requires a constant augmentation of armaments, so as to enhance the retaliatory power of the adversary. The paper analyses the flaws and drawbacks of arms control and reviews the achieve ments and failures of the arms control agreements. It then discusses the armaments dyna mics and prospects of disarmament. Two basic mainstays of armaments dynamics today lie in the domain of politics and technology. To undercut armaments dynamics the modus operandi in these two fields must be changed. In the political domain, a most important precondition for change is greater openness in questions of security. One promising strategy to follow would be unilateral reciprocated initiatives to gradually reduce arma ments. In the field of technology, military research and development must be brought under control. Disarmament can only come through a radical departure from dominant arms control concepts. There is a need to return to the idea of general and complete disarmament.

Peace Research and Peace Movements: Panel discussion at the VI General Conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), Turku, Finland, 15-18 August 1975

How the relation between peace research and peace action is viewed will depend on what we think the primary content of peace research (and peace studies) should be, on what groups we think are the most important agents in the struggle to achieve peace, and on what forms of action we consider most necessary if this struggle is to be successful. It is apparent that there are no universally valid, certainly no eternally valid, answers to these questions. Peace research (like philosophy, the area in which I received my graduate training) is a field that is constantly defining and redefining itself and its subject matter. This process of redefinition is influenced not only by internal developments, i.e. by developments intrinsic to the process of research itself, but by social and political developments which may strongly influence the manner in which we formulate

Scope and Priorities in Peace Research

and applied scholarly discipline seeking to deepen knowledge on questions of peace and war, and to maximize the value of peace. Constantly redefining and widening the concept of peace in a creative and dynamic manner, peace research has expanded to encompass the study of armed conflict and conflict resolution, of armaments and disarmament, of underdevelopment and development, of human deprivation and the realization of social justice, of repressive violence and the affirmation of human rights. Human in its objectives, scientific in its method and pragmatic in its endeavor, peace research has disassociated itself from value-free approaches in social science. Indeed, it has taken an aggressive interest in almost everything concerning the human condition and its betterment. Peace research is thus

War and Peace in Indochina US Asian and Pacific policies

Drawing largely on the Pentagon Study and other documentary evidence, the paper tries to trace the evolution in the post World War II period of the US imperial drive to the shores of Asia, and especially the historical record of the US Indo china involvement. Stress is laid on motivation and the driving forces behind the US engagement, particularly the political, strategical and economic interests. The paper analyzes the political strategy of the Nixon Administration and points to the continuity of US Pacific policies during the last five Admini strations. There has been only discontinuity in strategies, various Administrations trying to tackle the difficulties encountered from different angles and with different political and military instru ments. Doubt is expressed if the Nixon strategy- which in fact means a return to traditional great power diplomacy in the spirit of the XIX century - could produce a lasting peace. A lasting resolu tion of the Indochina conflict would require the fulfilment of two basic conditions: (1) to relieve tension in the inner circle of conflict by satis fying the social and national aspirations of the Indochinese peoples, i.e. stopping outside inter vention and allowing the national movements freely to shape the fate of the Indochinese nations; and (2) to eliminate conflict in the outer circle by making the area free of great power rivalry, especially in the military field, i.e. neutralization of the region. Some concluding remarks are offered con cerning the nature and dynamics of the US Indo china involvement. Pure profit motives could hardly account for this ruinous undertaking. Among the determinants for this drive are new elements of a world power balance, new attributes usurped by the executive bureaucracy, and new domestic and world domination patterns. Atten tion is drawn to the realively autonomous role of the superstructure. There is a need for further studies of the fabric, structure, and dynamics of these new phenomena in order effectively to con front them.

Antimatter Technology for Military Purposes: Excerpts from a Dossier and Assessments of Physicists

over 50-years old ’science-fiction’ theory on the existence of antimatter had been substantialized, and the vision of producing extremely powerful annihilation energy, immensely stronger than nuclear energy, by the fusion of the masses of a particle and its antiparticle, moved into the stage of laboratory experimental research. On the night of July 17-18, 1986, for the first time in history, antimatter was captured for a few

The Pursuit of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban

The history of the nuclear arms race is intimately interrelated with the systematic testing of nuclear weapons. Such testing is an essential part of nuclear weapon development, their constant improvement and sophistication. Thus a cessation of nuclear testing would definitely interfere with the general development and competition in nuclear weapons. Reliability and safety tests can today be assured by non-nuclear and chemical means in combination with computer simulation and design. But under the cover of confidence tests, R&D tests are conducted in pursuit of modernization and new generations of nuclear and exotic weapons. There are no longer technical obstacles to the conclusion of a nuclear test ban. Verification issues are but a pretext for the continuation of nuclear tests. A Comprehensive Test Ban is not only a realistic possibility but a sine qua non for slowing down, halting and reversing the arms race However, the prospects for a CTB in the near future seem far from good. As long as the nuclear powers continue treating nuclear weapons as a military-strategic asset, and seem bent on using them as a tool in politics and diplomacy, prospects for a CTB will necessarily remain dim.

Halting the Momentum of Nuclear Armaments Challenge and Response

ment and arms control experience after World War II gives little grounds for optimism. Except for the 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of Bacteriological Weapons, not one real disarmament agreement has been concluded. And, despite the conclusion of a number of arms control accords, the arms race has not been halted. To be sure, arms control attempts have aimed at far more modest goals. They have not bid for disarmament but at bringing the course of armaments under some control. Essentially, they have provided for joined and balanced superpower armaments, as exemplified by the SALT exercise. Yet even such limited attempts have ended in failure, and in the process the arms race has been intensified and accelerated.