Chapter 11International and Collective

Security

PS130 World PoliticsMichael R. Baysdell

Saginaw Valley State University

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Seeking Security: Four Approaches

• Unlimited self-defense– Traditional approach; power through strength

• Limited self-defense– State-based approach emphasizing arms limitations

• International security– Collective approach that emphasizes arms

limitations

• Abolition of war– Pacifist approach that emphasizes complete

disarmament

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Security: Standards of Evaluation

• Security is relative– Role of security norms and collective security forces

• Domestic versus international• Domestic norms usually preclude bad behavior• Domestic collective security• Domestic disarmament• Domestic conflict resolution

• Impossibility of absolute global security– Need to compare different approaches to international

security in order to begin evaluating them

Weapons Proliferation

• Nuclear arms race, 1945-1980s• Difference between “atomic” and “nuclear” weapons• Known nuclear powers: US, Russia, UK, China, France,

Pakistan, India, Israel, maybe North Korea• Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty commits member

states to not have nuclear weapons—188 signatories (not Israel, Pakistan, India)

• Limited Test Ban Treaty bans atmospheric testing• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (unsigned by US) bans

all testing except for maintenance• START I and II between US and Russia reduced # of

weapons to 3500• Treaty of Moscow (2002): 1700-2200 weapons each• Now, focus is on new TYPES: Bunker buster nuclear

weapon

Non-Nuclear Proliferation

• Chemical: 1993 CWC treaty bans• Biological: banned by 1972 treaty• Great Powers are now in the process

of destroying stockpiles (being incinerated in Alabama and Utah)

• U.S. #1 in non-WMD arms sales worldwide

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Limited Self-Defense through Arms Control

• Alternative approach to security • Aims at lessening military (especially

offensive) capabilities• Based on the belief that the decline

in the number and power of weapons systems will ease political tension, making further arms agreements more likely

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Methods of Achieving Arms Control

• Numerical restrictions• Research and development restrictions• Deployment restrictions• Categorical restrictions• Transfer restrictions• Testing restrictions• Geographic restrictions

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Numerical Restrictions

• Placing numerical limits above, at, or below the current level--most common approach to arms control

• EX: START I & II• START I: Central limits include: 1,600 Strategic

Nuclear Delivery Vehicles (SNDVs); 6,000 accountable warheads; 4,900 ballistic missile warheads; 1,540 warheads on 154 heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the Soviet side

• START II: limited nuclear weapons to 3500, no MIRVs

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Development, Testing, and Deployment Restrictions

• Seek to stop a specific area of arms building before it starts

• Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

(NNPT)• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

(CTBT)• Anti-Personnel Mine (APM) Treaty

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Categorical Restrictions

• Involve limiting or eliminating certain types of weapons

• Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty (1987)

• Anti-Personnel Mine Treaty

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Transfer Restrictions

• Aim at prohibiting or limiting the flow of weapons and weapons technology across international borders–Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)–Missile Technology Control Regime

(MTCR)

Geographic Restrictions

• No weapons on the seabed or Antarctica

• Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (a.k.a. Treaty of Tlatelolco)

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The History of Arms Control

• Attempts to control arms and other military systems extend almost to the beginning of written history

• Modern history of arms control began with the Hague Conferences (1899, 1907)

• Unparalleled destruction in World War I and II led to bans on poison gas, creation of IAEA

• Biological Weapons convention—countries with biological weapons agreed to destroy them

• 1980s: Arms control momentum began to pick up again--Reversing the trend of the cold war and the increasing proliferation of WMD

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WMD--Arms Control since 1990

• Most significant arms control progress made with nuclear weapons– START I and II, Treaty of Moscow• Overall number of nuclear weapons declining

10,000 -> 2200– Renewal of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT):

All but 4 nations have ratified– Efforts to ban all nuclear testing• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

– Treaty on chemical weapons• Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC): pledge to

eliminate all chemical weapons by 2005• Problems: dual use nature of chemicals, US and

other countries have not ratified

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Conventional Weapons--Arms Control since 1990

• Conventional weapons inventories– Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE)– Anti-Personnel Mine (APM) Treaty

• Conventional weapons transfers –Wassenaar Agreement)– Dual-use technology a thorny problem– UN conference on the Illicit Trade in Small

Arms

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International Barriers to Arms Control

• Possibility of future conflict– Threat of terrorists and rogue states– Mini-nukes

• Doubts about the value of arms control– Skepticism about whether reducing arms will actually increase security

(classic tenet of realpolitik)– Realist doubt that arms set off an arms race (question of “the chicken or

the egg”)– Political settlements should be achieved before arms reductions are

negotiated because of inherent dangerousness of the world– Verification and enforcement of arms control agreements can be an

intrusive and difficult process. Some nations seek to evade or violate terms of arms control agreements through technologies and strategies that escape on-site inspections (OSI) and national technical means (NTM).

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Domestic Barriers to Arms Control

• National pride– Symbol of national power

• Military spending, the economy, and politics– Supplying the military can be big business– Iron Triangle: alliance among interest groups,

bureaucracies, and legislators forming a military-industrial-congressional complex

– Can both hurt and help the national economy

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International Security Forces: Theory and Practice

• Defining security– Changing nature of security

• Organizing security– Global

• United Nations

– Regional• Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

(OSCE)• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)• African Union (AU)

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Collective Security: Similar to Domestic Law Enforcement

• Force used only in self-defense• Peace is indivisible; an attack on one is an

attack on all (ex: NATO Article V)• States unite to halt aggression and restore

peace• Successful domestically, often fails at the

international level– Countries unwilling to subordinate their sovereign

interests to collective action – Difficulty of distinguishing aggressor from the victim

(Russia v. Georgia over South Ossetia, 2008)

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Collective Security

• Bush administration doctrine of Preemptive War in Iraq war posed question of whether unilateral preventive action was a legal form of self-defense under collective security

• International experts appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2004 issued a report challenging legality of unilateral preventive military action.

• Political realities of UN Security Council politics sometimes mask reasons why members block collective military action by the Security Council even if such action is warranted (e.g., French efforts to curb American hegemony during run-up to Iraq War.)

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UN Peacekeeping

• Response tends to be reactive and passive; forces attempt to be neutral—act as buffer to restore peace

• EX: Disengagement agreements between Israel and Egypt in 1970s

• Most efforts in LDCs• In the past, used military contingents from smaller,

nonaligned powers• With the end of the Cold War, increasing UN

security role for larger powers, niche capability for smaller militaries

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UN Peacekeeping Issues• Budget restraints and dependence on states for dues• Security Council mandates establish peacekeeping

operations, but these can be limited by the veto power of permanent members of the Security Council

• Role of international law and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court– Questionable behavior of peacekeepers– Some nations refuse to accept jurisdiction of

International Criminal Court and ignore international law to resolve disputes

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Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement

• Limited effectiveness of peacekeeping– Lack of political and financial support from

member states for UN forces– Lack of commitment from five permanent

members of the UN Security Council• Peacekeeping missions often do not have enough

authority or resources or time to complete mission

• Upsurge in support for proactive peace enforcement–missions that are both reactive and preventative in scope– Continued tension between rhetoric and reality

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Peace Enforcement: Humanitarian Intervention or

Neocolonialism?• Sovereignty at risk for smaller LDCs• Major powers often have powerful

emotional and political incentives to intervene that may not always be entirely selfless

• Whose interests are really being served by the deployment of peacekeepers? Will powerful countries now have UN license to impose their will on smaller countries?

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International Security and the Future

• Peacekeeping–largely a functional response to an international problem– Becoming almost a permanent part of world politics

• Frustrations with the United Nations– Inherent limitations of any international organization

• Need to distinguish between types of international security efforts and handle them differently– Peacekeeping vs. peace enforcement vs. peace-

building

• Use is likely to continue to increase

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Abolition of War

• Disarmament/General and complete disarmament (GCD)• Unilateral• Negotiated• PacifismUniversalPrivateAntiwar

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Many alternatives to security exist. In order to understand

the best approach to international security, we

must ask…

What makes individuals and states feel insecure?

Chapter Objectives: Checklist• After reading this chapter, students should be able to:

• 1. Explain the issue of security by considering what insecurity means.• 2. Discuss limited self-defense as an approach to security.• 3. Characterize arms control as an approach to achieving security by limiting the numbers and

types of weapons that countries possess.• 4. List major events and themes in the history of arms con trol.• 5. Discuss the major developments in efforts to achieve arms control by the limiting and

reducing certain types of arms.• 6. Discuss challenges faced by international efforts to limit arms transfers and the proliferation

of weapons, includ ing biological, chemical, and conventional weapons.• 7. Summarize and evaluate international and domes tic barriers to arms control.• 8. Describe the roles that collective security and peacekeeping play in world politics.• 9. Discuss the abolition of war as an approach to security, focusing on disarmament and

pacifism.

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