Regulating the Weapons of War

• In Event: Weapons and Arms Transfers

Abstract

This paper examines the design and purpose of multilateral agreements to ban or regulate different weapons (i.e. arms control), and how such agreements are related to one another. Employing a novel dataset of all multilateral arms control agreements since 1945, this paper uses quantitative text analysis to examine variation and patterns in the content of such multilateral agreements. Existing explanations for the design of multilateral agreements largely focus on problems of cooperation based on rational choice models. However, such approaches often neglect much of the actual language in the texts of agreements. This paper provides a more systematic and concrete way of assessing the content of these agreements, by examining patterns in the actual language used in multilateral agreements to ban or regulate weapons. This approach more fully captures the meaning of the texts agreed upon by states. Using the results of the text analysis, I assess how the purpose and content of such agreements has evolved over time. I also examine the relationships between different agreements. Specifically, in comparing the language used in agreements over time and for regulating different kinds of weapons, I evaluate which previous agreements states draw on and learn from in designing new agreements. This paper makes an empirical contribution to scholarship on arms control and international agreements by providing a comprehensive taxonomy of different agreements. Moreover, in examining similarities and differences across the texts of different multilateral agreements, this paper provides insights into the range of goals pursued through such agreements. This paper also makes a methodological contribution to research on arms control, an empirical area where quantitative text analysis has rarely been applied.

Author

• Naomi Egel, Cornell University