As a new UK Strategic Defence Review gets underway, a series of complex interconnected crises from the Middle East to the Horn of Africa must prompt a much greater emphasis on de-escalation. Charlie Linney and Lewis Brooks propose three areas where UK Defence can contribute to de-escalation and conflict prevention.
Scrutinising UK Arms Exports: Dissolving the CAEC is pie in the sky thinking
For 25 years parliamentary scrutiny of UK arms exports was conducted by a unique and often dysfunctional combination of departmental select committees: the CAEC. Suddenly, it’s only a matter for Business and Trade. Anna Stavrianakis analyses what’s gone wrong with parliamentary oversight and how, when it is most needed, it can be put right.
Arms Control and Confidence-building after the Ukraine War
Arms control regimes have been among the many casualties of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the wider context of collapsing trust between Moscow and the West. Jordan Smith argues that initiatives at multiple levels to restrain, record and verify the development and deployment of weapons by all sides of the conflict are essential to rebuilding confidence and a crucial part of any eventual peace settlement.
Missing in Action: UK arms export controls during war and armed conflict
UK arms supplies to Ukraine are unusual in not favouring an aggressive, abusive state. Anna Stavrianakis argues that ethical arms export controls remain a convenient fiction and proposes four things Britain could do to shift from managing controversy to reducing harm.
Making a Noise about the Quiet Return of Arms Fairs
After a year of cancellations due to the COVID pandemic, thousands of arms dealers and military representatives from across the world once again travelled to the UK to attend a string of arms fairs in the autumn. Kirsten Bayes from CAAT, was part of supporting the resistance to them and argues that now more than ever we need to highlight the insecurity they breed.
Trading in Misery: The arms trade, empire and international law
Kirsten Bayes argues that the UK’s addiction to arms trading is a vestige of empire and great power politics that continues to empower despots and immiserate the world’s most vulnerable people.