ABSTRACT
Introduction It is widely recognized that arms exports can have negative externalities on national security. As a result there are almost universal national controls on arms exports. There are also a variety of international organizations that attempt to regulate the international trade in arms through the coordination of suppliers. The theory of such coordination is developed in Levine and Smith (2000a). That paper examines the interaction between coordination of the supply of weapons through international export controls, coordination of the production of weapons through collaboration and coordination of the levels of military expenditure through alliances. In this chapter, we wish to examine the institutional features of arms export controls: the practical issues in arms export control, the international organizations that are trying to regulate exports and the factors that determine the effectiveness of the various arrangements.
