The Rise of Black and Gray Markets

Abstract

Since the mid 1980s, the black and gray arms markets have emerged as major forces in the arms trade. Though they are much smaller than the orthodox trade, covert transfers are of great importance, providing the weapons most likely to actually be used in conflict. The totally illegal black market arises in reaction to embargoes. It is antipolicy, the mirror image of official intentions. The state-sponsored gray market, although it receives less attention, is much larger and more destabilizing. The gray market represents policy in flux as governments experiment with new and risky diplomatic relationships. There is much that can be done to bring the covert arms trade under control, especially through more aggressive law enforcement and radical extension of the United Nations Arms Register. Only collective security mechanisms, though, offer any hope of eradicating the covert arms trade.