Space Weapons And International Security

The efforts of the United States to develop defences against ballistic missiles (the Strategic Defense Initiative) is one of the most hotly debated topics of our time. This authoritative book contributes to the debate by presenting th searching and wide-ranging views of twenty-six international experts on the technical, legal, political, and military aspects of space weapons. They address such questions as: What are the technological promises and problems of strategic defence? What effects will SDI have on the arms race or on deterring nuclear war? How do China, India, and Japan perceive SDI? What can be done to guard international stability? These papers, which express every range of opinion on SDI, from an unqualified approval to total scepticism, are prefaced by an overview by the editor of the volume.

This publication contains a number of papers presented at an international conference on the current and future military uses of space, held in Geneva in November 2002, as well as the conference report. Participants, who included governmental and non-governmental representatives, discussed a wide range of short and long-term measures to enhance space security, including the possibility of a ban on the deployment of any weapons in space.

This publication explores the concept of common security and the legal foundations for its application in outer space law, based on the premise that outer space is an internationalised common area beyond the national jurisdiction of individual states, and therefore security in space must be the common security of all states. Chapters cover a range of issues including: the principle of the peaceful use of outer space, passive military uses, and multilateral negotiations to prevent an arms race in outer space; structural change of international law and the common heritage of mankind principle; and proposals for a multilateral agreement and the creation of an International Organisation for Common Security in Outer Space.

In this era of globalization, the world is facing a host of challenging security problems—from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to international terrorism to accelerating climate change to energy security—that cannot be resolved unilaterally, especially through the unilateral use of military force. One key issue that requires urgent global attention is literally "out of this world": the military use of outer space. This collection of essays by leading Russian experts analyzes the current military use of outer space. The book describes the space weapons programs of various countries. It details the history of negotiations to prevent, or at least control, the weaponization of space, including analyses of the political, military, technical, and legal problems facing negotiators trying to avoid a catastrophic new space race.

MacDonald recommends options and policies that will promote options and policies that will promote American security interests in space. He argues that the U.S. needs to take priority defensive military space measures to offset potential Chinese anti-satellite and related capabilities.

An outgrowth of papers presented at the 11th annual conference of the International Security Studies Program of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, held at the Fletcher School's Cabot Center, on April 27-29, 1982.

This book puts the widely-held view that 'arms control in space is not possible' to the test and aims to explore how, and under what conditions, arms control could become a reality. Drawing upon international regimes and IR theory, Mutschler examines the success of space weapons and anti-ballistic missiles.