Arms Proliferation and Control

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The U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race ended in détente, but nuclear development efforts and WMD proliferation in India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran have caused geopolitical instability since the Cold War's end. RAND has applied strategic analysis to nuclear confrontation scenarios and international deterrence efforts since its earliest work on game theory, with particular focus on the roles of both diplomacy and missile defense systems in global as well as regional security.

  • The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a mausoleum in Pyongyang, North Korea, photo by narvikk/iStock

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    How Does North Korea Evade Sanctions?

    The United Nations has imposed increasingly restrictive sanctions on North Korea after each of the six nuclear weapons tests that it conducted between 2009 and 2016. Enforcement has been mixed, and North Korea has become adept at several techniques to evade sanctions.

    Sep 23, 2021

  • Russian Mi-28N helicopters fly in formation at the Dubrovichi range near Ryazan, Russia, August 2, 2015, photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

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    Where Russia Markets and Sells Advanced Conventional Weapons

    Russia uses arms exports to further relations with other countries, influence their political and military leaders, and further its broader foreign and defense policy goals. A series of maps show the extent of its marketing, negotiating, and sales of key weapons systems.

    Jun 11, 2021

Explore Arms Proliferation and Control

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    Trends in Space Control Capabilities and Ballistic Missile Threats: Implications for ASAT Arms Control

    Examines U.S. national space policy and military space policy, focusing on the space control debate. It considers the status of space control-related capabilities, such as the antisatellite (ASAT) and national aerospace plane (NASP) programs.

    Jan 1, 1990

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    Verifying Conventional Stability in Europe: An Overview

    Presents a qualitative overview of conventional arms control verification issues, including (1) monitoring force levels calibrated in major items of equipment and personnel, in a large production area that makes concealment possible; ...

    Jan 1, 1990

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    Arms Control Constraints for Conventional Forces in Europe

    This study focuses on one aspect of potential arms control agreements involving conventional military forces: the use of constraints, defined as measures directly limiting or prohibiting current or future operations by military forces.

    Jan 1, 1990

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    The Baroque Debate: Public Diplomacy and Naval Arms Control, 1986-1989

    This Note is the second in a series of six RAND examinations of issues, options, and relevant considerations in the naval dimensions of East-West arms control.

    Jan 1, 1990

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    Naval Arms Control: The Backdrop of History

    One in a series of six RAND examinations of issues, options, and relevant considerations in East-West naval arms control.

    Jan 1, 1990

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    Arms control in Korea: issues for the 1990s

    Recent progress in European arms reduction is the result of a unique combination of developments not likely to occur in other regions, including Korea. While the potential for meaningful arms control may not seem very promising in the case of Northea...

    Jan 1, 1990

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    Toward a Korean national community: selected strategic, military, and arms control issues

    Since the division of the Korean peninsula along ideological lines after World War II and the subsequent Korean War of 1950-1953, the restoration of a Korean national community has been a high priority on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone. This pa...

    Jan 1, 1990

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    U.S. national security strategy and arms control in the Pacific

    This paper discusses various arms control proposals that would have major effects on the security of the Pacific Rim. While an effective arms control agreement between NATO and the Soviet Union in Europe could do much to reduce the security problems ...

    Jan 1, 1990

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    Arms control and disarmament: the new intra-alliance debate

    This paper discusses Mikhail Gorbachev's "peace offensive" and NATO members' perceptions of and reactions to the Soviets' arms reduction policies as they affect the NATO position on disarmament. The author suggests that Soviet unilateral arms reducti...

    Jan 1, 1989

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    The philosophic roots of Western antinuclear movements

    This paper is based on a presentation made to a conference held October 28-29, 1988, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Arms Control Without Negotiation: Unilateral and Independent Initiatives. It describes and discusses the philosophic roots behind the...

    Jan 1, 1989

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    A Conceptual Framework for Operational Arms Control in Central Europe

    Operational arms control measures can improve NATO’s military security through three key elements: reducing the threat of strategic or operational surprise, raising the risks of preparing for attacks, and improving NATO’s tactical odds on D-Day.

    Jan 1, 1989

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    The threat, the conventional balance and arms control: the emerging alternative view in Europe

    In August 1988, the author attended a conference held in Kiruna, Sweden, on the subject of "Independent Arms Verification and Crisis Monitoring from Space." The conference examined the possibilities, problems, and limitations of utilizing civil (i.e....

    Jan 1, 1988

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    Extended Deterrence and Arms Control: A Collection of Conference Papers

    ... RAND Corporation, the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs sponsored a conference in San Diego, California, on Extended Deterrence and Arms Control.

    Jan 1, 1988

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    Nuclear Modernization and Arms Control in NATO

    Analyzes different ways in which NATO can respond to the nuclear requirements that flow from its strategy.

    Jan 1, 1988

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    Whither SDI? : Strategic Defenses In the Next Administration

    Concentrating on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), this Note describes the programmatic, budgetary, arms control, and political contours of the strategic defense agenda that the new president is likely to confront.

    Jan 1, 1988

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    1986, the year in arms control

    The year 1986 was a very active and potentially significant one for arms control. Stockholm agreements were a limited but useful step toward regulating Warsaw Pact and NATO forces. The United States and the Soviet Union met at Reykjavik and worked o...

    Jan 1, 1987

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    Conventional Arms Control Revisited: Objectives in the New Phase

    This Note examines the relationship between conventional defense and arms control planning and assesses the conditions under which arms control can help NATO meet its conventional defense requirements.

    Jan 1, 1987

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    SDI and/or arms control

    This paper suggests a framework that relates U.S. policies regarding the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and arms control to fundamental objectives of U.S. security--deterring aggression and limiting damage should deterrence fail. The paper argue...

    Jan 1, 1987

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    The Arms Control Challenge to the Alliance

    This paper was originally presented as an address to the North Atlantic Assembly in Plenary Session, The Storting, Oslo, Norway, on September 25, 1987.

    Jan 1, 1987

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    U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms control : the next phase

    This paper, which is included as a chapter in U.S.-Soviet Relations: The Next Phase (Cornell University Press, 1986), analyzes the nuclear arms control dimension of U.S.-Soviet relations as it enters a new phase. It reviews the developments and force...

    Jan 1, 1986

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