ABSTRACT
An influential United Nations report argues that the proliferation of small arms and light weapons plays a major role in promoting violent conflicts. It shows how groups that previously would have been inclined to settle their differences through negotiations or other nonlethal means now find more options to arm themselves.1
The increasing availability of hardware “demilitarizes war” in the sense of enabling quite small groups, not just state militaries, to organize for combat.2 Thus easily available small arms help to change the organization of conflicts and creates a new role for small-scale military entrepreneurs who may have vested interests in continuing violence. The decentralized nature of their militias in turn disrupts the efforts of more peaceful groups to resolve underlying causes of conflict.3
