ABSTRACT
Introduction: the policy issues Although the UK arms trade involves both exports and imports of defence equipment and services, the focus is usually on arms exports. This is an area dominated by myths, emotion and special pleading. Critics refer to an ‘ethical foreign policy’, to the immorality of a nation exporting ‘weapons of death’, to the human rights record of some countries to which the United Kingdom exports defence equipment and the costs to the taxpayer of UK arms exports. Supporters of UK arms exports point to its economic benefits in the form of jobs, export earnings and maintenance of the UK defence industrial base (Towle 1998; Webb 1998). Such diversity of views show the scope for independent analytical and empirical work and for critical evaluation of the UK’s arms exports. There are extensive opportunities for applying economic theory, for empirical testing and for the critical evaluation of policy options. Questions arise about what is known, what is not known and what is necessary to know for sensible, informed debates and public choices on the UK’s arms exports.
