Towards understanding chemical warfare weapons proliferation

Abstract

Chemical-warfare weapons (CWW) (1) proliferation began topping the security agenda during the past decade and was, in the words of one analyst, rapidly becoming the most serious threat to world peace. (2) The newly perceived threat led to an explosion of l earned and not-solearned analyses. Yet, virtually nobody deemed it n ecessary to define what actually constitutes CWW proliferation. Such a n observation is even more striking because these authors discuss th e attraction of CWW under certain circumstances as well as the number and identity of states suggested by officials based on classifie d, and therefore essentially unverifiable, information. Moreover, th ey often propose policy alternatives to counter the developing threa t. Must we therefore assume a common understanding or consensus of what proliferation is? The debate originated and evolved in a highly i deologized environment of growing political pressure as well a s heavy opposition in the United States to resume CWW production. East-West relations had deteriorated significantly. US allegations of c hemical and biological warfare (CBW) activities by the Soviet U nion and its client states were either taken as proof of wilful Soviet deceit in international relations and disarmament negotiations or met with considerable scepticism. The coincidence of US allegations of CB W in Third World conflicts and the domestic debate to begin th e production of binary chemical munitions was not lost on Europe ei ther, resulting in much suspicion regarding Washington's agenda. (3) It is hardly