ABSTRACT
Germany had little reason before 1914 to be afraid of a naval race with Britain. There was a widespread feeling in Germany that arms races were a normal, natural and even desirable feature of peace-time relations and those efforts to negotiate arms control agreements merely reflected one side’s fear that it was being overtaken. Despite this initial position, since the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, British governments have come to regard it as the most important arms control agreement since the Washington Naval Treaty. The discrepancy between a country’s apparent military power and its status enshrined in an arms control treaty cannot usually, therefore, become too wide. Thus, the history of the last 60 years would appear to show that a declining power can only preserve its relative position by formal arms control agreements for a limited period and in especially favourable circumstances.
