UN Special Session on Disarmament: Opportunity for New Initiatives *

Abstract

This paper argues that the 1978 United Nations Special Session on Disarmament (UNSSOD) provides an ideal opportunity for governments to consider the feasibility of national initiatives in disarmament as distinct from relying primarily on negotiated agreements. Traditional arms control diplomacy, inadequate at best, may be completely misdirected. Instead of building confidence and reducing force levels, the bargaining process inherent in the pursuit of formal international treaties tends not only to exacerbate tensions but also to generate more armaments. Extra forces have been rationalized to support particular negotiating positions, and defense planners have been encouraged to assess military requirements in relative terms, as a function of worst-case estimates of the capabilities and intentions of potential adversaries, rather than in absolute terms, as a function of basic national security needs. An attempt is made here to establish criteria on which effective disarmament initiatives might be based and judged in the long term. While these criteria are intended to be generally applicable, the leadership for any new approach to the armaments problem will probably have to come from Washington; specific proposals thus focus on measures which appear feasible for the US in the near future, and which the Carter Administration could conceivably initiate at the UNSSOD.