Introduction

Abstract

For nearly a half-century, the Cold War’s major contestants and their principal allies poured conventional arms into the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America in a competition to reinforce friends, outflank enemies, and make a few francs, pounds, rubles, or dollars while doing so. These are the regions in which the great, growing, and largely unhappy majority of humanity lives, regions in which grievance is rife and governance often unstable, and in which most of the regional wars of the last half-century have been fought. Conventional arms—fighting vehicles, warships, combat aircraft, and missiles—are the tools of regional conflict. The international trade in conventional arms has declined from its Cold War peak but remains a $30 billion business, most of it conducted with developing states.