Political Conflict And Arms Control

This book, through Pakistan-India experience, demonstrates an intimate relationship between political conflict and arms control. It proves that several contributing political conflicts affect arms control in distinct ways. Importantly, the combined effect of these pertinent political conflicts claim greater influence over arms control processes.

Professor Goldman has contributed articles and books in divers fields of political science. This is a partial collection of his principal published and unpublished journal articles as well as brief references to his principal books. Goldman’s concern for the pathology of war is dealt with in several articles and books noted in this volume. From Warfare to Party Politics reveals the dynamics of a “critical transition” from civil war to nonviolent political party competition. His theory of conflict processes draws from sociology. His other books and articles relate to arms control, peacekeeping, and the institutional development of the United Nations.

Demonstrating the ways in which work in a broad range of fields can be pulled together in the analysis of conflict, this book provides the reader with a general introduction to the principles of conflict analysis and lays a methodological foundation for the further development of the interdisciplinary field of peace science. The text begins with an extensive survey of arms race models, from the classic Richardson model to models exploring the effects of factors such as the domestic and international economic environment, public opinion and party politics, and weapons technology and information development. The processes of individual and group problem-solving, in both crisis and non-crisis conditions, are examined, drawing on work in economics, operations research, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. Building on this diverse body of work, the author moves on to develop a framework for conflict management with which to approach a variety of conflict situations and applies this procedure to the United States-Soviet arms control conflict. Walter Isard is cited by Mark Blaug as one of the Great Economists Since Keynes (CUP, 1989 paper edition).

In this groundbreaking analysis, Stuart Croft brings the subject of arms control into the era of complex, multi-polar international relations. He moves beyond the narrow definitions of the phenomenon associated with the Cold War to show how it not only has a long past, but also a clear future. The author begins by tracing the history of agreements between polities over weapons back to ancient times. An understanding of this history allows him to put forward a typology of arms control. It occurs at the end of major conflicts, stabilises balances between states, develops norms of behaviour, manages weapons proliferation, and acts as a tool of international organisations. Stuart Croft examines the evolution of these five qualitatively different strategies, and applies the typology to arms control agreements in the post-Cold War world. This definitive new study will be of interest to students in international relations and security studies, as well as specialists in these disciplines.

The essays in this volume explore the complexity of national arms control decision-making and multilateral negotiations, and the challenges of reaching domestic and international agreement on verification.