Continuity and Change in the US Arms Control Policy in the Middle East

1 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXV, No.1, Fall 2011 Continuity and Change in the US Arms Control Policy in the Middle East Gamal M. Selim1 Introduction: This article examines the development of U.S. arms control policy in the Middle East in the post-Cold War era, and assess its impact on the prospects of reaching genuine arms control in the region. Towards this end, the following issues require investigation: To what extent did the US arms control policies in the Middle East in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 events represent a departure from the policies pursued in the 1990s? What are the aspects of continuity and change in this respect? To what extent has the United States been successful in bringing about genuine arms control in the Middle East? What are the missing elements in the US Middle East arms control policy which ought to be addressed by the Obama Administration? The article is divided into four sections. The first establishes the conceptual boundaries of arms control. The second looks at the US arms control policy in the region during the 1990s, with special emphasis on outlining the various arms control proposals that were either initiated or supported by the United States for the purpose of establishing a regional arms control regime. The third section shifts the analysis to the US arms control approach in the Middle East at the beginning of the new millennium. It examines the major arms control policies that were advocated by the United States in the region in the post 9/11 era, as well as the outcomes of these policies. The fourth section is devoted to examine the impact of the US arms control policies on the prospects of peace and 1 Gamal M. Selim is lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Port Said University (Egypt). He obtained his Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Calgary. His research interests include theories of international relations, arms control and non-proliferation , and the Middle East politics. His published works include several articles in different scholarly journals. 2 security in the region, in addition to identifying the main problems these policies had encountered. The objective is to assess the aspects of continuity and change in the US arms control policy in the Middle East before and after 9/11. Finally the article outlines the major issues and concerns that ought to be addressed by the Obama administration if the United States is serious about introducing a genuine arms control process in the Middle East. (I) The Conceptual Boundaries of Arms Control In the arms control literature, the concept of arms control has been sometimes used interchangeably with disarmament. However, the two concepts are different. While disarmament entails the elimination of certain classes of weapons from the arsenals of states, the purpose of arms control is mainly regulatory, as it tends to put certain limitations on the acquisition, production, deployment, or use of weapons. Arms control tends to “ban certain classes of weapons and weapon systems, places upper limits on the number of weapons that states may posses, limit the size and destructive power of weapons, ban the production of weapons that will increase the likelihood of war, and stop or at least slowdown the development of new technologies”.2 In The Control of the Arms Race, Hedly Bull, a classic arms control scholar, defined arms control as restraints internationally exercised on the development, use, and employment of weapons.3 Ken Booth subscribed to the same view. He argued that whereas disarmament is revolutionary in focus as it is based on upturning the traditional processes of military security, arms control is more conservative in focus as it seeks to regulate such processes.4 According to these definitions, the main objective of arms control is regulation, rather than elimination of weapon systems. In fact, arms control can lead states to agree to increases in certain categories of armaments if such increases will contribute to crisis stability, and thereby reduce the chances of war. 2 Martin Griffiths and Terry O’Callaghan, International Relations: The Key Concepts, (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 6. 3 Hedley Bull, The Control...