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• Council Special Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons

  Director:	William L. Nash, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program
  Author:	Reuben E. Brigety

  December 2006 - Novemer 2007

  A major task of early warning of violent conflict is to understand the linkage between political, economic, and social sources and triggers of violence and larger, systemic issues that consistently contribute to unrest. One such dynamic is the international proliferation and trade, licit and illicit, in small arms and light weapons (SALW). This forthcoming report will review the current state of the global SALW problem, examine the U.S. policies for tackling the problem, and then propose tangible, realistic steps for the United States to address SALW proliferation and misuse as a form of systemic conflict prevention.

  
  

   

  • Meetings  
  • Further Readings  

   

  Meetings

  Council Special Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons: Second Advisory Committee Meeting

  Advisory Committee

  
  March 7, 2007

  Related Project: Council Special Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons

  Chair:	William L. Nash, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action, The Council on Foreign Relations
  Speaker:	Reuben E. Brigety, U.S. Agency for International Development

   

  Council Special Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons: First Advisory Committee Meeting

  Advisory Committee

  
  January 5, 2007

  Related Project: Council Special Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons

  Chair:	William L. Nash, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action, The Council on Foreign Relations
  Speaker:	Reuben E. Brigety, U.S. Agency for International Development

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  Further Readings

  June 26, 2006

  Oxfam: The AK-47: the world's favourite killing machine

  A second arms control report from Oxfam, focusing on the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the most widespread military weapon in the world, with an estimated 50-70 million spread across the world’s five continents. They are used daily by soldiers, fighters, and gang members to inflict untold suffering in many countries. The spread of these weapons continues largely unchecked by governments, threatening the lives and safety of millions as weapons fall into irresponsible hands. More than ever, the Kalashnikov rifle is the weapon of choice for many armies, militias, armed gangs, law enforcement officials, rebels, and other private actors who abuse fundamental human rights and operate beyond the international humanitarian law parameters laid down by the Geneva Conventions and other relevant international law. Oxfam argues that following the UN Review Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in mid-2006, governments should agree at the UN General Assembly in October 2006 to negotiate a new global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to regulate international transfers of all conventional arms, including military assault rifles.

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  February 23, 2007

  Oslo Declaration on Cluster Munitions

  Declaration

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  January 2006

  Oxfam: The call for tough arms controls: Voices from Afghanistan

  A report from Oxfam from early 2006 on arms controls in the context of Afghanistan, which has one of the highest concentrations of guns per person in the world. Oxfam says there may be up to 10 million small arms circulating in a country which has a population of 23 million, with the result that the culture of the gun has become deeply embedded, and the presence of firearms has a fundamental impact on democracy, development, and security. Oxfam argues that foreign governments have been instrumental in arming Afghanistan’s warring sides in the past, and that their responsibility now is to ensure that arms supplies do not fall into the wrong hands. In short, the rest of the world must take responsibility for the arms that it supplies. To do that, governments should agree a new international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

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  March 16, 2006

  UN arms embargoes: an overview of the last ten years

  Author:	Oliver Sprague

  Oxfam details flaws in the UN arms embargo system that lead to widespread violations. The report urges improved monitoring and verification to combat the problem.

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  December 29, 2005

  U.S. Arms Sales: Agreements with and Deliveries to Major Clients, 1997-2004

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• 

  New CFR Books

  

  In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.

  

  America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.

  

  In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.

  Complete list of CFR Books.

  

  

  New Council Special Reports

  Global FDI Policy

  After two decades of liberalization, many countries around the world are adopting new restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) that could retard continued progress. The authors make recommendations for correcting this protectionist drift by proposing guidelines for how countries can better regulate FDI yet still reap its economic benefits.

  Dealing with Damascus

  In this Council Special Report, the authors make a strong case that the Bush administration’s policy of diplomatic isolation of Syria is not serving U.S. interests, and offer informed history and thoughtful analysis of the country and its external behavior.

  Complete list of Council Special Reports.

  

  

  David Rockefeller Studies Program Contacts

  For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:

  Gary Samore
  Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
  +1-212-434-9627
  gsamore@cfr.org

  Sebastian Mallaby
  Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics
  smallaby@cfr.org

  Janine Hill
  Deputy Director of Studies Administration
  +1-212-434-9753
  jhill@cfr.org

   

  

  

  The Think Tank

  The David Rockefeller Studies Program

  The David Rockefeller Studies Program is the Council’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving the Council’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.

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