General Disarmament Research Articles

Internal Political Struggle in India in the 1960s and its Influence on the Foreign Policy of the Country

The article reveals the process of internal political struggle in India in the 1960s aggravated after J. Nehru death. Later its results affected the foreign policy course of the country. The emphasis in the study is both on the confrontation between political groups in the government and on the intra-party split of the INC which ended in a complete victory for the supporters of I. Gandhi. The purpose of this study is to review the internal political changes allowed the government of the country to define clearly the independent pacifist orientation of its foreign policy, to intensify significantly in the international arena and to support openly peace and reducing tension, general disarmament, ending local conflicts and turning the Indian Ocean into a zone of peace. The relevance of the article is determined by its inclusion in the circle of interests of historical science on issues of the Indian policy of the 1960s-1970s in the Indian Ocean there was an unsteady anti-Americanism and at the same time it was not clearly pro-Soviet, thus it realized the outlined foreign policy course. The result of the study showed that at the beginning of her working I. Gandhi did not have such great authority as J. Nehru who stood above political intrigues and political struggle. Thus, faced with active opposition, she could not pursue Nehru’s political course in the government and the INC using his methods. Softer and more democratic domestic policy did not interfere Nehru to be a leader. But it was disastrous for his daughter because the “old guard” of the INC sought to pursue persistently its line and, having discredited I. Gandhi, remove her from power. The opposition would not decide to do it if Nehru was alive. In such circumstances showing Nehru’s inherent tolerance would essentially mean not to continue his traditions but to be a passive observer of the degeneration of the Nehru Congress into the Congress of the “syndicate”.

Continuities and Changes of India’s Foreign Policy since its Independence for Making a better India

Foreign policy means a policy pursued by a nation in its dealings with other nations, designed to achieve its national objectives. This is the same in the case of India also. However, the quintessential strands of India’s foreign policy are peaceful co-existence, non-interference, peaceful resolution of disputes, non-alignment, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, multilateralism, pluralism, general and complete disarmament, opposition to all forms of terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism and pro-development. In recent decades, India has pursued a more expansive foreign policy that encompasses the neighborhood first policy embodied by SAARC as well as the Look East policy to forge more extensive economic and strategic relationships with other East Asian countries. This article has explored the major continuities and changes that had been happened in India’s foreign policy since its independence.

Activities of Kazakhstan on general disarmament

The whole world knows that with the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, Kazakhstan was the first in the world to refuse nuclear weapons. By its unprecedented decision, which has no analogs in the world, the Republic of Kazakhstan has earned the moral right to demand the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world and call upon the states that are members of the nuclear club to make the same decision. The article presents the results of deep scientific research of literature and scientific articles on the activities of Kazakhstan in the field of general disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, which made it possible to present an overall picture of the current state of the problem. The ban on nuclear weapons testing has become global. During 30 years of struggle for a nuclear-free world, Kazakhstan has been doing a lot of work on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world. The following initiatives allow all countries, regardless of their political, economic, and military capabilities, to participate in the discussion and resolution of the critical issues involved in abandoning nuclear weapons and developing projects for the peaceful use of atomic energy. The materials of this article can be used for further scientific research of Kazakhstan's position on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as for conducting classes with students and cadets on the disciplines "Modern History of Kazakhstan" and "Political Science".

The Administrative Anatomy of Failure: The League of Nations Disarmament Section, 1919–1925

This article investigates the creation and workings of the Disarmament Section of the League of Nations Secretariat. It shows that the Disarmament Section was an outlier of the Secretariat: supressed by the Great Powers, it had less autonomy than other parts of the administration, which from an early stage limited its bureaucratic practice to the production of information. This bureaucratic production created unreliable factual foundations for negotiations and unrealistic public expectations. Thus, the article argues that the troubled birth and administrative strangling of the Disarmament Section of the Secretariat should play a significant role in our understanding of the broader collapse of general disarmament. By making this argument, the article breaks new ground by introducing failure as an analytical category to understand the role and practices of international public administrations.

The role of the world health organization in solving international public health problems: history, modernity and development prospects

Epidemics of smallpox, cholera, plague and other infectious diseases in the world in the past were accompanied by the deaths of millions of people and often threatened humanity with destruction as a biological species. Therefore, society was forced to join forces to create an organization that would provide health protection on a global scale. On April 7, 1948, 26 UN member states created the World Health Organization, the main goal of which was to help provide the protection of health of the population of all countries of the world. Purpose of the study - analysis of the historical data of the process of creating the World Health Organization, achievements for all the years of its existence, financing in last years and formation of the opinions of authors on the role of this organization in solving health problems of all humanity. Results. The article presents data on stages of the formation of the World Health Organization. Information about positive results for more than 70 years in solving reproductive health problems, maternal and child mortality, eradicating many infectious diseases in different parts of the world and other problems is detailed. Joint resolutions of the World Health Organization with the United Nations were adopted about general and complete disarmament, protection of humanity from atomic radiation, ban on the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, defining of the role of doctors and other health workers in the preservation and strengthening of the world. Information on the World Health Organization funding is provided. The prospects for the development of the organization are described. Conclusions. The World Health Organization actively continues its work – maintains contact with international experts, governments and partners for quick collection of scientific data on a new virus, tracks its distribution and assesses its virulence, provides to countries and population recommendations on health protection measures and preventing the spread of infection. The global climatic crisis and the coronavirus infection pandemic showed that the role of the World Health Organization should increase to prevent cataclysms in some countries and globally. It is the World Health Organization that has a huge positive international experience in fighting various public health problems and it remains the only effective organization that consolidates the efforts of most countries of the world to overcome the problems of all humanity.

Mythic rights and conflict-related prisoner ‘re-integration’

This article argues that within Northern Ireland the processes of disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration (DDR) remain incomplete. Despite general disarmament and demobilisation and a very significant fall in paramilitary violence, those imprisoned as a consequence of the conflict remain marginalised by vetting laws and other instruments of civic exclusion. This has significant consequences in terms of acknowledging that the conflict has ceased as a violent/military episode. This is due to rhetorical devices and positions that uphold variant readings of the past, especially those that impose a humiliated status upon conflict-related prisoners.

TOWARDS FULFILLMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF HUMANITARIAN LAW IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is an international treaty that should be implemented during both peace and wartime. However, the obligations included in the treaty are dependent upon states' attitudes regarding other issues. Non-use of nuclear weapons is directly related to negotiations done for the purpose of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, non-production or accumulation by other means and disarmament. In our day, prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons has been one of the issues of international law. The present study is of crucial significance due to its endeavor to clarify the general principles of Humanitarian Law in a relationship to the threat of nuclear weapons' up to now, a special norm; significantly limiting or completely prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons, has not been accepted in international law. However, customary international humanitarian law regarding the use of nuclear weapons holds great value because of its purpose in eliminating nuclear weapons as a means of war through ascertaining their non-use and also appeasing the importance of nuclear ascendancy. In this respect, the NPT regime and its relationship with international humanitarian law will be discussed. Firstly, the NPT background, formation, main objectives and principles will be analyzed. In order to evaluate the relationship between the NPT and humanitarian law, the humanitarian obligations in general, humanitarian obligations in the context of the NPT and fulfillmen t of these obligations under the NPT should be studied. One of the main parts of the study is nuclear disarmament obligation included in the NPT. In this section, nuclear disarmament obligation in the context of the NPT and the legal framework of possible, general and comprehensive disarmament will be examined.

Dyplomacja niemiecka wobec kwestii powszechnego rozbrojenia po Locarno (1925/1926)*

The article deals with an issue of granting equal rights (“Gleichberechtigung”) to Germany in the militarisation process. During the conference in Locarno (the 5th-16th of October 1925) the German diplomacy demanded, in vain, that the level of armed forces and militarisation of the countries which were members of the League of Nations would be significantly reduced and proportional to the level decided by Germany in the Fifth part of the Treaty of Versailles. Nevertheless, on the 12th of December 1925 Germany was invited to participate in the works of the Preparatory Commission of the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, gaining at the same time an opportunity for undertaking direct actions for the purpose of equilibrating the military status of Germany with that of other countries. The article analyses the German preparations for the proceeding of the 1st session of the Preparatory Commission. They were conducted, supervised and coordinated by the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs (the Second Department and the Report of the League of Nations), which cooperated in this regard with the Ministry of Defence, Naval Commission, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Commerce. In the instructions mapped out for the German delegation the promotion of the general disarmament was recommended for the purpose of propaganda and tactics. The German delegation was to emphasise the dependence between Germany’s disarmament and the general disarmament, pointing at the 8th article of the treaty of the League of Nations, an introduction to the Fifth part of the Treaty of Versailles and a note of Georges Clemenceau from the 16th of June 1919. Enforcing the treaty’s limitations regarding the militarisation of other countries was regarded as a minimal positive goal. Berlin expected that the pressure from the United States and the Great Britain would force France and its allies to reduce armies and the conditions of armament. It was assumed that Germany would simultaneously gain a possibility for a partial rearmament. In case of a fiasco of the disarmament negotiations, the German diplomacy would gain a basis for the formal request to remilitarise Germany. The diplomats from the Wilhelmstrasse managed to convince the military men from the Bendlerstrasse that due to the political and propagandistic reasons, until Germany’s accession to the League of Nations, it was necessary to act according to tactics. Most of all, to avoid the situation, in which the German requests (both of disarmament and remilitarisation) could be considered as a reason for the failure of the disarmament negotiations. The German diplomacy was also planning to use the discussion about defining the records of the 16th article of the treaty of the League of Nations to balance the military status between Germany and the neighbouring countries. Deutsche Liga für Völkerbund (DLfV) played a significant role in Germany’s preparations for the first session of the Preparatory Commission. The disarmament commission of the DLfV led by Max von Montgelas mapped out a plan for the disarmament by assuming a reorganisation of the European countries’ armies and defining the level of army in relation to the number of the inhabitants. The realization of Montgelas’ plan assumed that the German army would be doubled and hence equal to the French army. The German diplomacy avoided a public specification of the postulate of “equal rights” in the disarmament. Therefore, Mongelas’ demobilisation plan, published by DLfV, is treated as an instrument of the propaganda of the German authorities and regarded as an expression of opinions of the German official factors. Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, the chairman of DLfV, known in the pro-league circles associated in the International Union of the Associations of the League of Nations (Union Internationale des Associations pour la Société des Nations), was chosen a chairman for the German delegation in the Preparatory Commission.

Small arms: towards an integrated model

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsNatalie GoldringNatalie Goldring directs the Program on General Disarmament at the Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland. She was Deputy Director of the British American Security Information Council between 1991 and 1998, where she initiated and directed its light-weapon project.

The international dimension of national security: Some observations

The author, an active participant of Pugwash over a period of 12 years, highlights the endeavour of this NGO to bring about a non‐discriminatory international nuclear regime within a wider programme of global nuclear disarmament. The NWS try to maintain their hegemony through: treaties like the NPT and CTBT, technology control regimes like the London Club, MTCR and Wassenaar Regime; and international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank—resulting in neocolonialism. Hard‐hitting questions are asked and observations made on how genuine the NWS are in their ‘commitment’ to general and complete disarmament of nuclear weapons as provided for in Article VI of the NPT.

United Nations: General Assembly Resolutions on General and Complete Disarmament

United Nations: General Assembly Resolutions on General and Complete Disarmament

General and complete disarmament

General and complete disarmament

Two German works on Russell

Two German works on Russell by Harry Ruja Walter Langhammer. Bertrand Russell. Leipzig, Jena, Berlin: UraniaVerlag , 1983. Pp. 120. DDR 7,80M. THIS IS AN illustrated account of Russell's life and thought, similar in many respects to Ronald Clark's Bertrand Russell and His World (London : Thames and Hudson, 1981). Itis brief, as is the Clark, it has some of the same photographs, and it too provides a chronology of the main events in Russell's life. It documents the sources of the illustrations (the major source was the Archives at McMaster), as does Clark, and the sources of the quotations (Vols. I and II of the Autobiography more than any other), as Clark does not. Though, as in Clark, there is some exposition of Russell's philosophical and political views, the major concern is with the outer events of the man, rather than with his inner thoughts. Both list Russell's principal publications, Clark in a "Select Bibliography" and Langhammer as part of the Chronology, but Langhammer fails to mention a number of significant books of Russell's, including Philosophical Essays (1910), Mysticism and Logic (1918), An Outline ofPhilosophy (1927), An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth (1940), and Portraits from Memory (1956). Clark has a full index, Langhammer has none. For those who know German but not English and know little or nothing about Russell, this volume will serve to acquaint them with one of the great men of our century. Those who know both languages may profit from consulting this book in addition to, or instead of, the Clark by reason of some ofits special features. It offers more attention to German figures important to Russell's development (Cantor, Dedekind, Leibniz, Husserl, Hilbert, Mach). It displays some illustrations rarely, if ever, seen elsewhere: my favourite is a charming shot of Grandpa Bertie and step-Grandma Edith with John'S three daughters dressed in school uniforms . But the most distinctive aspect of Langhammer's treatment derives from his affiliation with the Marxism-Leninism section ofthe University of Halle/Wittenberg in East Germany. As is to be expected, the author devotes a significant amount of attention to Russell as a "progressive" social critic struggling to overcome his "aristocratic" background. He quotes Russell's disillusionment with his fellow-students at the "crammer " he attended in his youth: despite the fact that they were sons of 93 94 Russell summer 1985 upper-class parents of a "civilized and presumably moral land", they showed themselves to be vulgar and anti-intellectual. Langhammer understands Russell's reluctance to take extreme positions as a manifestation of the British love of compromise and moderation, and calls attention to the faith which animated the Apostles, faith in "ordered progress by means ofpolitics and free discussion". Russell's opposition to World War I ("I knew it was my business to protest"), his visit to Russia, his meeting with Lenin, his campaigns against nuclear war starting with the Russell-Einstein Manifesto (a better starting-point is the broadcast in December 1954 of "Man's Peril from the Hydrogen Bomb") and continuing with the Pugwash Conferences, the eND and the Committee of 100, and his indictment of President Lyndon Johnson's war against the Vietnamese-these all receive sympathetic and prominent attention. The author depicts three Bolshevik generals planning strategy to repulse the White Army in the 1920 counterrevolution, and he quotes Russell's remark that "War is only the final flower of the capitalist system" leading to the conclusion that to abolish war one needs to overthrow that system. Though Langhammer quotes Russell as saying, "I know that no good thing is achieved without fighting", he omits the adjacent statement, "For collective action,'the individual must be turned into a machine." He quotes Russell as saying ofhis stay in Russia, "I lost all power ofbalanced judgment", but deletes the qualifying phrase which preceded this remark, "With every day that I spent in Russia my horror increased, until I lost. ..." He compares the proposals for general disarmament that America and Russia have been submitting since 1946, to the former's disadvantage. On the whole, however, Langhammer manages to discharge his task objectively, with a minimum ofaxe-grinding. (He even...

Consideration of space activities by the UN general assembly

The thirty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly affirmed ‘that complete and general disarmament warrants that outer space should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and that it shall not become an arena for an arms race’. This text appears in the first of two important resolutions concerning outer space adopted by the General Assembly during its last session. Also in the first resolution, entitled ‘Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space’ (A/39/59 of 12 December 1984), the Assembly called upon all states, particularly those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful uses of outer space and to take immediate measures to prevent an arms race in outer space in the interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation and understanding.

United Nations: General Assembly Resolution on General and Complete Disarmament

United Nations: General Assembly Resolution on General and Complete Disarmament

General and Complete Disarmament

General and Complete Disarmament

Arms Control: The Retreat From Disarmament The Record to Date and the Search for Alternatives

The main thesis in this paper is that arms control as implemented in recent years and reflected in a number of multilateral and bilateral US-Soviet accords has not halted the arms race, but rather impelled its course. An effort must be made to change direction and initiate the process of real disarmament. Arms control has meant a retreat from disarmament. It has come to symbolize a practice of building security not on less but on more arms. Deterrence has become the main theme of arms control, and has meant the establishment of a threat system which requires a constant augmentation of armaments, so as to enhance the retaliatory power of the adversary. The paper analyses the flaws and drawbacks of arms control and reviews the achieve ments and failures of the arms control agreements. It then discusses the armaments dyna mics and prospects of disarmament. Two basic mainstays of armaments dynamics today lie in the domain of politics and technology. To undercut armaments dynamics the modus operandi in these two fields must be changed. In the political domain, a most important precondition for change is greater openness in questions of security. One promising strategy to follow would be unilateral reciprocated initiatives to gradually reduce arma ments. In the field of technology, military research and development must be brought under control. Disarmament can only come through a radical departure from dominant arms control concepts. There is a need to return to the idea of general and complete disarmament.

U.N. General Assembly Resolution on General and Complete Disarmament

U.N. General Assembly Resolution on General and Complete Disarmament

Problems of Disarmament Research

A number of pressing disarmament issues are considered. Among these are steps to restrain and halt the arms race, together with arms limitation in Europe, SALT, and partial disarmament mea sures. The existing arms limitation treaties are evaluated. In view of the possibility that existing treaties might bring about a false feeling of complacency, the importance of working out a clear comprehen sive concept of progress, from restraining atoms build-up and on to general disarmament, is stressed. The article also deals with such problems as the role and practical significance of disarmament research, research strategy, and forms of coopera tion between scholars, especially those from coun tries with different political and social systems. The author stresses the necessity for fuller use of the achievements of various sciences in disarma ment research and in practical activities in this field, to keep the discussion and handling of disarmament issues abreast of the latest technolog ical and social developments, and to make a more effective impact on international disarmament efforts and negotiations.

Legal Restraints in Modern Arms Control Agreements

In theory, we may envisage five principal types of national arms policy,reflecting as many policy objectives:(1) Arming to obtain the greatest possible weapons preponderance on the assumption that armed conflict is imminent. This policy of amassing military forces without regard for its effect on the other side results in an unrestrained arms race.(2) Arming to deter. The idea of deterrence is familiar to lawyers since it figures so prominently in criminal law. According to Schelling, deterrence as a strategic concept “is concerned with influencing the choices that another party will make, and doing it by influencing his expectations of how we will behave.” Deterrence “requires that there be both conflict and common interest between the parties involved; it is as inapplicable to a situation of pure and complete antagonism of interest as it is to the case of pure and complete common interest.”(3) Arms control. This policy envisages measures that aim at reducing the danger of war and at slowing down the arms race. Such measures may or may not involve actual restrictions upon military activities or reduction of armaments.(4) Comprehensive, reciprocal disarmament (“general and complete disarmament”), usually seen as a scheme “embodied in a single grand treaty leading by stages from less to more drastic and radical measures.” In the final stage, the capabilities of national forces are reduced to those required for internal security only and a centralized international machinery is charged with peacekeeping.(5) Unilateral disarmament, a concept that is self-explanatory.