ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the history of efforts to control the arms traffic and bring some order or predictability to the competitive process of supplying weapons. It looks at history as a key to what might work in the difficult policy domain in the future, noting the pitfalls and success stories of past efforts and comparing them to the emerging multilateral arms control agenda and to unilateral or bilateral moves to limit the availability of arms. Arms control agreements presuppose the existence of stable governments in control of the weapons trade and able to enter into binding treaties or agreements. By affording parties to an arms agreement the technical means to check up on each other, verification machinery, ranging from spy satellites to human spies, allows escape from the arms control stalemate of the Prisoner's Dilemma game. The emergence of major powers willing to aid regional recipients for strategic purposes could restart arms races despite a lingering economic and credit crunch.
