The Future of Arms Control - Softcover

Levi, Michael A.; O'Hanlon, Michael E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815764634 ISBN 13: 9780815764632

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2004

Synopsis

Arms control, for decades at the core of the foreign policy consensus, today is among the more contentious issues in American politics. It is pilloried and considered out of mode in many conservative quarters, while being viewed as nearly sacrosanct in many liberal circles. In this new book, Michael Levi and Michael O'Hanlon argue that neither the left nor the right has a correct view of the proper utility of arms control in the age of terror. Arms control in the traditional sense--lengthy treaties to limit nuclear and other military competitions among the great powers--is no longer particularly useful. Nor should arms control be pursued as a means to the end of constraining the power of nations or of promoting global government. It is still a critical tool, though, for controlling dangerous technologies, particularly those that, in the hands of hostile states or terrorist organizations, could cause massive death and destruction. Arms control and coercive action, including military force, must be integrated into an overall strategy for preventing proliferation, now more than ever before. Arms control should be used to gain earlier warning of illicit activities inside dangerous states, allowing the international community to take coercive action in a timely way. The authors propose three new criteria to guide future arms control efforts, designed to respond to today's geopolitical realities. Arms control must focus on the dangers of catastrophic technology, not so much in the hands of major powers as of small states and terrorist groups. Their criteria lead to a natural focus on nuclear and biological technologies. Much tougher measures to prevent countries from gaining nuclear weapons technoloty while purportedly complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and procedures for controlling dangerous biological technologies will be most prominent in this framework, while lower priority is giben to efforts such as bilateral nuclear accords and most types of arms control for outer space. This book provides a framework for an effective arms control strategy in a new age of international security.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael A. Levi is the David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is director of the CFR program on energy security and climate change. He is also adjunct assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University. Michael E. O'Hanlon is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the Sydney Stein Jr. Chair. His recent books include Neither Star Wars nor Sanctuary (Brookings, 2004) and Crisis on the Korean Peninsula (McGraw Hill, 2003; with Mike Mochizuki).

Review:

"This is one of the first books I would recommend to people looking for a list of actions that should be taken to prevent another catastrophic terrorist attack. Michael A. Levi and Michael E. O'Hanlon have written an extraordinarily comprehensive survey of policy recommendations for confronting terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)....I hope that policy makers of all stripes will read this book and realize that arms control is a major arrow in the quiver in the prevention of WMD proliferation and terrorism." —Dan Lindley, University of Notre Dame, Political Science Quarterly, 12/1/2005

"...a valuable resource on the topic that will have some endurance, because the arguments in question will themselves endure." —John D. Steinbruner, Director of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, Arms Control Today, 3/1/2005

"Co-authors Michael Levi and Michael O'Hanlon present a compelling case for a renewed focus on arms control by the United States." —Captain George Galdorisi, U.S. Navy (Retired), United States Naval Institute. Proceedings., 4/1/2005

"Levi and O'Hanlon make a strong case for a broad and sustainable new approach to regulating nuclear, biological, and land mine technologies as an integral component of global security policy." —Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State

"There is not, to my knowledge, any comparable book, and this one is a winner." —Thomas Schelling, University of Maryland, author, STRATEGY AND ARMS CONTROL (with Morton Halperin)

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0815764634
• ISBN 13: 9780815764632
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 205