Remnants Of War Research Articles

The Remnants of War

The Remnants of War. By John Mueller. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. 272p. $29.95.Rarely does a cover convey with such accuracy a book's central argument as in John Mueller's The Remnants of War. Shot by Ron Haviv, maybe the most iconic photographer of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, the cover picture shows a Serb soldier celebrating the fall of the town of Vukovar. The middle-aged soldier is drunk as he downs a bottle of liquor with the town's ruins in the background. In fact, he looks more like a homeless man in any European or American city than anything we would associate with the modern military profession—an observation that summarizes Mueller's four-tiered argument.

Managing the Global Problems Created by the Conventional Arms Trade: An Assessment of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms

One of the first global security problems to emerge in the post-Cold War period was the excessive and destabilizing accumulation of conventional weapons. The only truly global instrument to emerge to cope with this was the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. This article is an assessment of how this transparency and confidence-building measure has contributed during its ten-year existence to the management and global governance of the negative consequences of the arms trade. The Register has developed an important norm and made arms transfers more transparent. But it still has a long way to go before it can play its inherent role in establishing a cooperative security regime that would address excessive and destabilizing arms buildups. KEYWORDS: conventional arms trade, United Nations, Register of Conventional Arms, transparency, confidence building, cooperative security. ********** At the end of the Cold War and throughout the 1990s, the international community began to seriously address an emerging set of global problems--disease, pollution, violations of labor rights, gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, poverty, injustice, inequitable access to resources--that were increasingly understood to be the result of the increasing globalization that accompanied the collapse of the bipolar international system. Phrases such as new world order, global governance, and managing global issues were increasingly being used to describe how the world was organizing to deal with these problems. Like all global social conditions or problems, the negative consequences of the arms trade must be managed. (1) Surprising to many, this movement toward global solutions also took place in an important dimension of international security: reducing and preventing the negative effects that accompany the proliferation, availability, and misuse of military weapons. Cooperation among states increased in the area of weapons of mass destruction (WMD): the Chemical Weapons Convention was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997; the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was indefinitely extended in 1995; the General Assembly, by resolution in 1996, adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; serious negotiations resumed aimed at developing a verification regime for the Biological Weapons Convention; and the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, known as the Hague Code of Conduct, was agreed in 2002. Concomitantly, at the other end of the weapons spectrum, a treaty banning antipersonnel landmines was signed in 1997; the state parties of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) adopted the Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) in 2004; and in 2001, the UN held an international conference that produced a Programme of Action to prevent and reduce the effects from the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons. In all these cases, norms emerged to guide the behavior of states; institutions for global agenda setting and policymaking were developed and their mandates grew; and monitoring of compliance became a normal function. (2) Noticeably missing from this list is any mention of global action to control the effects of the unrestrained trade in major conventional weapons: tanks and armored fighting vehicles, fighter aircraft, helicopters, ships, artillery, and missiles. (3) This reality exists, despite a consensus among states that the unrestrained arms exports to Iraq in the 1980s led directly to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Although a flurry of discussions ensued in the wake of the Gulf War as to how the world could prevent a recurrence, very little in the way of global norms and institutions emerged to restrain the trade in these weapons. One exception to this trend was the development, in the autumn of 1991, of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (hereafter referred to as the Register). This article treats the Register as a cooperative security policy initiative that, if implemented, would lead to the reduction and prevention of negative effects from this class of weapon. …

The Remnants of War

The Remnants of War

Small arms and light weapons

On 11–15 July 2005, a United Nations-brokered conference will be convened in New York to address the threat to peace and security posed by the proliferation and trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW). The Programme of Action (PoA) agreed at the first UN SALW conference, in July 2001, made some important recommendations, but its results have been mixed. Policy discussions would benefit from a broadening of parameters to include related dangers, such as those posed by the availability of Man Portable Air Defence Systems and Explosive Remnants of War, that are similar in origin and therefore amenable to similar solutions.

What Was the Cold War about? Evidence from its Ending

Journal Article What Was the Cold War about? Evidence from its Ending Get access John Mueller John Mueller JOHN MUELLER is Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Policy and professor of political science at Ohio State University. His most recent books are The Remnants of War and Capitalism, Democracy, and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 119, Issue 4, Winter 2004, Pages 609–631, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2004.tb00532.x Published: 15 February 2013

A new protocol on explosive remnants of war: The history and negotiation of Protocol V to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons

On 28 November 2003, the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) adopted a new protocol on explosive remnants of war. This new instrument of international humanitarian law, the fifth protocol to the CCW, is an important addition to the efforts to reduce the death, injury and suffering caused by the explosive munitions that remain after the end of an armed conflict. Protocol V establishes new rules that require the parties to a conflict to clear explosive remnants of war, to take measures to protect civilians from the effects of these weapons and to assist the efforts of international and non-governmental organizations working in these areas. If widely adhered to and fully implemented, it has the potential to significantly reduce the civilian casualties that regularly occur after the end of hostilities and to minimize the long-term socio-economic consequences that explosive remnants of war inflict on war-affected countries. It complements the work of the international community to reduce the suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines.

Managing the health effects of the explosive remnants of war

Many civilian deaths and injuries across the globe are a consequence of 'explosive remnants of war' (ERW). These ERW include mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and cluster bombs. The numbers of deaths, injuries and resulting disabilities from ERW are expected to increase as armed conflicts proliferate. This will have a substantial effect on all aspects of health. This article first describes the mechanisms of these ERW and the nature of the injuries they can cause. It then briefly outlines the immediate medical management such injuries require; the long-term outcomes and sequelae, and what can be done to manage them. It highlights how research and medical interventions must take into account cultural, social and economic factors in addition to utilising safe and appropriate techniques and practices. The article concludes by noting that medical personnel are well placed not only to intervene and manage the direct health effects of ERW, but also indirectly by advocating on behalf of those affected by adding their voices to campaigns against their proliferation.

Adoption of Fifth CCW Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War

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Policing the Remnants of War

Certain standard, indeed classic, varieties of war have become so rare and unlikely that they could well be considered to be obsolescent, if not obsolete. Moreover, much, but not all, of what remains of war is substantially opportunistic predation waged by packs of criminals, bandits, and thugs who engage in warfare in much the same way as they often did in medieval and early modern Europe: as mercenaries recruited or dragooned by weak (or even desperate) state governments or as warlord gangs developed within failed or weak states. Much of this warfare could be reduced or substantially eliminated by disciplined police and military forces and, in their new era of essential consensus in the wake of the Cold War, the developed countries could create mechanisms for policing civil warfare. However, they are likely to do so with any sort of reliability only where their interests seem importantly engaged or where they manage to become self-entrapped. Rather, the key lies in the establishment of competent domestic military and policing forces, tracing a process Europe went through in the middle of the last millennium. Indeed, much of the civil warfare that persists in the world today is a function of the extent to which inadequate governments exist. Of late, there seems to have been an increase in the number of countries led by effective people who, instead of looting and dissipating their country's resources, appear to be dedicated to adopting policies that will further its orderly development. Thus, while far from certain, a further (or continuing) decline in a most common remaining kind of war does seem to be an entirely reasonable prospect.

Regulating explosive remnants of war

There have been significant developments in recent years in the efforts to reduce the death, injury and suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines. These weapons are regarded as one of the major threats to civilians once an armed conflict has ended. Anti-personnel mines have killed and injured large numbers of men, women and children and slowed the rebuilding of war-affected countries. The longterm and indiscriminate effects of these weapons led to the adoption in 1997 of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction.Anti-personnel mines, however, are one part of a broader problem. Modern armed conflict leaves behind a wide array of explosive ordnance which, like antipersonnel mines, causes large numbers of civilian casualties and has severe socioeconomic consequences for years, and sometimes for decades, after the hostilities end. Until recently, international humanitarian law contained very few requirements to lessen the impact of these ‘explosive remnants of war’ (ERW).

Preface: Future Trends in Low Intensity Conflict

Preface: Future Trends in Low Intensity Conflict

Aftermath: The Remnants of War

Aftermath: The Remnants of War

The Second Review Conference of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons

The 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) was opened for signature on 10 October 1980 and entered into force on 2 December 1983 (six months after the deposit of the twentieth ratification). Following several years of virtual obscurity, interest in the CCW increased in the early 1990s, partly as a consequence of greater interest in the potential of the CCW in reducing the inhumane consequences of anti-personnel landmines (APLs). This led to the convening of the First Review Conference (Revcon) in 1995/6. One of the decisions taken by the first Revcon was that a second Revcon should be convened within five years to review the operation of the CCW. This indicated that for many states the CCW had come to assume a greater importance than they had accorded it during the preceding 15 years, as well as their acceptance that APLs and other weapons covered by the CCW warranted closer attention. In the lead-up to the second Revcon, which was convened in December 2001, major issues under consideration included the scope of the CCW and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), including cluster bombs and other forms of unexploded ordnance not covered by existing international law, and strengthened provisions relating to antivehicle landmines (AVMs).

Explosive remnants of war: Protecting civilians through an additional protocol to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons

Explosive remnants of war: Protecting civilians through an additional protocol to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons

Burning Remnants of War

Burning Remnants of War

Explosive remnants of war in the human environment

Explosive remnants of war in the human environment

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Cultural Norms, War and the Environment. Westing, A. H., editor. 1988. Environmental Warfare: A Technical, Legal and Policy Appraisal. Westing, A. H., editor. 1984. Herbicides in War: The Longterm Ecological and Human Consequences. Westing, A. H., editor. 1984. Explosive Remnants of War: Mitigating the Environmental Effects. Westing, A.H., editor. 1985. Global Resources and International Conflict: Environmental Factors in Strategic Policy and Action. Westing, A. H., editor. 1986.

The Rubbish of War Explosive Remnants of War: Mitigating the Environmental Effects Arthur H. Westing

The Rubbish of War Explosive Remnants of War: Mitigating the Environmental Effects Arthur H. Westing

Remnants of War as a Legal Problem in the Light of the Libyan Case

More than 30 years after the end of hostilities in the Second World War, 13 governments have confirmed the presence on their territories of large amounts of the material remnants of war, mostly land mines. They can be found in all the countries affected by the North African campaign of the Axis powers in 1940-1943, namely, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as in Malta, Norway, Poland and even Australia. Armed conflicts that have taken place at a later time, for example, those in Vietnam, the Suez Canal Zone, the Sinai and other regions in the Near East, have created similar dangers, and there is no reason to believe that present and future conflicts will be any different.

Canadian patent data base. The philosophy, construction and uses of the Canadian patent data base PATDAT

Despite recent progress in reducing the number of victims, landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) cause more than 3000 causalities every year, particularly affecting the most vulnerable. Current mine action programmes, however, do not consider prevailing vulnerabilities of affected communities in their priority-setting systems. We emphasise the need to consider social vulnerability in the workflow of mine action, and apply a spatially explicit approach for its assessment at a sub-national scale in Cambodia, one of the world's most heavily affected countries. Drawing on available literature and focus group discussions with domain experts, 16 socioeconomic, demographic and distance-related vulnerability indicators were identified. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to obtain indicator weights, revealing that using firewood for cooking, distance to hospitals and health centres, occupation in the primary sector, poverty, conflict density, illiteracy and living in a rural area are key factors shaping social vulnerability in the context of landmines and ERW. Results were visualised using both 2×2 km2 grids and sub-district administrative units, a resolution often used by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA). The results show that social vulnerability is very heterogeneous across the study area (Battambang province) with varying contributions of the underlying indicators. Significant hot spots were identified in the central, north-western, north-eastern, and southern parts of the province. The presented approach provides the means not only to assess but also monitor progress of reconstruction measures to strengthen the resilience of communities exposed to post-conflict impacts such as landmines.