ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at ‘scientific’ sophistication, recapitulates classical arms race theory as well as certain alternative explanatory approaches. The chapter focuses on two questions. First, how could we solve the arms race problem with special attention being paid to alternative defence? Secondly, is the arms race a phenomenon of the past with the implication that the proposed solutions might have become ‘answers in search of questions’? The classical paradigm of ‘arms races’, which most people probably have in mind when using the term, is that of the ‘Action-Reaction Phenomenon’, where one state’s arms acquisitions are determined by those of its opponent(s), and vice versa. The peaceful and ‘disarmamentalist’ post-Cold War world features a number of potentially dangerous localised arms races. A related theory of armament dynamics is that of the technology-driven arms acquisitions. Arms control is better understood as an integral part of defence planning as opposed to a mode of disarmament.
