UNIT- V

APPROACHES TO PEACE:
DIPLOMACY, INTERNATIONAL LAW, UNITED NATIONS, ARMS CONTROL AND
DISARMAMENT
Unit Structure
5.0
Objective
5.1
Introduction
5.2
Peace
5.2.1 Early Ideas
5.2.2 Meaning
5.2.3 Conflict Management and Peace
5.3
Approaches to Peace
5.3.1 Diplomacy
5.3.2 International Law
5.3.3 United Nations
5.3.4 Arms Control and Disarmament
5.4
Let us sum up
5.5
Unit end questions
5.6
Reference

5.0

OBJECTIVE

In this chapter we intend to get introduced to the approaches to peace as adopted by the
international community. We will begin with the meaning of the concept of peace and throw
light on some of its dimensions. From there we will proceed to briefly discuss four major
approaches to the peace, diplomacy, international law, United Nations, and arms control and
disarmament. The intention is to get introduced to various dimensions and mechanisms of
international peace.

5.1

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, the idea of security has been associated with freedom from physical harm or
manifest violence. Therefore, in the international relations, national interest which is often
described in terms of national security required military preparedness and arms production.
In the post cold war period the concept of security has been altered to include the elements
other than the physical violence. The concept is now developed comprehensively to address
manifest as well as structural violence as causes of insecurity. The efforts for peace in
contemporary international relations are guided by our understanding of the linkages between
notions of security and violence.

National security in traditional sense leads to race for more advanced and most destructive
armaments. The production and possession of nuclear weapons, Weapons of Mass
Destruction (WMDS) along with chemical and biological weapons threatens the very
existence of humanity and world peace. Having witnessed the devastation caused by nuclear
weapons during Second World War in particular and overall effect of two World Wars in
general, the international community engages itself in efforts for maintaining peace and
security through various means. In the present unit we will attempt to understand the
approaches to peace in international relations.
5.2

PEACE

Peace as the desirable condition for human existence always remains objective of human
quest. It is imperative to understand the meaning of peace in details before introducing
various approaches to peace in international relations.
5.2.1

EARLY IDEAS:

Knowing that conflict and violence are the obstacles for human well being and growth of
civilizations, the idea of peace generated enormous interest and thorough deliberation in the
history of human kind. Almost unanimously all intellectual traditions denounced war as
undesirable for peaceful living. Regarding the attainment of the objective of peace and its
nature by humans two broad trends can be identified. Firstly, religions underline the abstract
and spiritual dimensions of the peace. Accordingly need for harmonious living with other
fellow humans and with other living and non-living things; link between a spiritual life and
action for social justice; tranquility between inner state of mind and harmonious interpersonal
relationship; and natural goodwill, unconditional love, wholeness and individual well-being
as well as cessation of hostilities are some of the prerequisites of the peace. Secondly, in
order to sustain the conditions of peace and prevent the outbreak of violence, the nonreligious philosophical traditions emphasis more on material conditions and institutional
framework. Avoidance of civil disturbances, stable relationship among various units of
society, maintenance of law and order, acceptance of contractual nature of the institution of
State, control over the power of the state to curb the social oppression and exploitation and
establishment of egalitarian social order are some of the means that various school of
thoughts like Greek, Social Contractualist, Anarchist, Socialist argue as necessary for curbing
the violence in the society.
5.2.2

MEANING

Peace is broadly understood as the absence of manifest violence or the situation of lack of
conflict. In detailed analysis peace can be understood in two ways, firstly, as an absence of
war often called as negative peace and secondly, in terms of presence of social and
economic justice often called as positive peace. In reality both have their utility for correct
diagnosis of occurrences of violence. Any given case of direct or manifest violence such as
physical injuries and infliction of pain such as killing, beating and verbal abuse can be

attributed to the structural reasons like inegalitarian and discriminatory practices causing
human misery like poverty, hunger, repression, and social alienation. The causes of manifest
violence are hidden in the political, economical, and social structures of the given society in
particular and humanity in general. Structures of exploitation as caste, class, patriarchy or
race holds root causes of the violence. Cultural elements like religion, ideology and art
provide value system to legitimize the instruments of violence that are ingrained in the
societal structures. Therefore, minimization of cultural violence requires reduction in
structural and direct violence. Based on this analysis of violence, interweaving of both
negative and positive meanings of peace can be understood.
It is now well accepted that peace must be maintained by peaceful means only. Since peace is
the absence of violence, violence should not be employed to maintain it. Use of physical
force to punish the perpetrators of peace may prove short term utility. Some non-violent
means like negotiation and mediation to diffuse situations of conflict, total disarmament to
reduce the capacity of war, international agreements and institutions to support stable
international relations are considered as suitable to fulfill the objective of peace in long term.
Beyond these means the comprehensive notion of peace touches upon many issues that
influence quality of life, including personal growth, freedom, social equality, economic
equity, solidarity, autonomy and participation. While positive concept of peace equates peace
with social justice, negative concept draw attention towards more realistic perception of the
world as stage for power struggle.
5.2.3

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND PEACE

As mentioned above efforts of peace-making are largely directed towards conflict

resolution devoid of any violent means. Conflict is natural in human as well as international
relations. It requires proper management of the conflict so that it should not escalate into
violent situation causing mass destruction. Therefore the challenge to maintain the peace
includes management and resolution of conflict in ways that reduce the possibility or the
level of violence without compromising other values such as justice or freedom.
Instances of manifest violence are rooted in structural arrangements of the national as well as
international systems. The prolonged exploitation, denial of liberty and justice,
discriminatory treatment for the weaker sections by dominant caste/classes result in
resentment and feeling of rebelliousness among weaker groups. Privileged groups either
ignore the demands of under privileged (if voices are too weak to pull attention) or suppress
the resenting voices by physical violence by using physical force and also by exercising
hegemony through cultural institutional mechanisms. Individuals/groups/nations challenge
the existing balance of power situations of conflict arise.
Traditional approach to conflict resolution seeks effective maintenance of order in the given
society, be it national or international. Thus enforcement of existing institutional mechanisms
is used to discipline the behavior of the rebelling parties. Primacy is accorded to ventilating
the demands through institutional structures which are by and large meant to reinforce the

dominant social norms. Any effort to revolt beyond that can be dealt with deterrent strategies
relying on threats and punishment depending upon the intensity of the revolt. In any case the
approach fails to provide long term solution to the problems that are rooted much deeper and
prevent the recurrence of future conflict satisfying conditions to be acceptable to all parties.
The contemporary approaches to peace building rely on eliminating structural violence and
construction of a new social environment that advances a sense of confidence and improves
conditions of life. It emphasizes the end of coercive processes, transformation in human
relations based on equality of opportunity, freedom and justice. In a way it values human life
based on promotion of justice and end of abusive human relations at all levels - intra-state,
inter-state and global as well.
Thus, in the discussion above we have understood the concept of peace with its varied
dimensions. In the following sections we will concentrate on the approaches to peace
building viz. diplomacy, international law, United Nations, arms control and disarmament.
Check your progress:
1. Discuss in detail the meaning of peace with its varied dimensions.
2. Differentiate between traditional and contemporary approaches to peace building.
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5.3

APPROACHES TO PEACE:

Since first half of the 20th century arms race, disarmament, avoidance of war had been the
major focus of peace studies. Diplomacy, international law, United Nations (UN) system,
arms control and disarmament are the major approaches to international peace. These
approaches mostly look at the world as a system of nation-states as prime actors with
considerable weight in global politics.

5.3.1

DIPLOMACY:

Ever since the international system has developed from the Treaty of Westphalia, diplomacy
had been the major instrument of resolution of conflicts between the Nations.

5.3.1.1 DIPLOMACY MEANING:

According to Nicolson, in common parlance the term diplomacy denotes several meanings

such as a synonym for foreign policy, negotiations, the machinery by which such
negotiation is carried out, a branch of the foreign service and also the skill in the conduct of
international negotiations. The scholarly writing is also equally ambiguous over the proper
meaning of the term. It may be defined as the process of presentation and negotiation by
which states customarily deal with one another in terms of peace. In Oxford Dictionary it is
defined as the method by which these negotiations are adjusted and managed. Sir Earnest
Satow in his book Guide to Diplomatic Practice has defined diplomacy as the application of
intelligence and tact to the conduct of official relations between the governments of
independent states. Quincy Wright suggests that Diplomacy in the popular sense means the
employment of tact, shrewdness and skill in any negotiation or transaction. In the more
special sense, used in international relations it is the art of negotiation in order to achieve the
maximum of group objectives with a minimum of costs within a system of politics in which
war is a possibility. Thus, to summarize, diplomacy is the business of communicating
between governments as a means of both the making and execution of the foreign policy.

5.3.1.2 HISTORY OF DIPLOMACY:

The organized diplomacy may be traced back to the fifth century B.C. when the City States of
ancient Greece used to send special missions to each other. The Romans, especially Eastern
Roman Empire extended the practice of diplomacy to include accurate observation and
reporting as well as representation. During the middle ages, from the sixth century A.D. to
late eighteenth century, diplomacy simply meant the study and the preservation of archives
rather than the act of international negotiation. In the late Middle Ages, Italian City States
established diplomatic channels with London, France and the Court of Holy Roman Empire.
After the treaty of Westphalia in 1948, diplomacy became an established profession and a
generally accepted method of mutual relations between nations. Till the seventeenth century
diplomacy was confined to the diplomacy of the Court i.e. Kings. By the late eighteenth
century, the Industrial, American and French revolutions changed the nature of political
systems. The rise of democratic systems brought fundamental change in the duties of
diplomats. The Congress of Vienna was instrumental in standardization of rules of procedures
of diplomacy. The nineteenth century diplomacy, known as modern democracy demanded
new methods as well as personnel, because of change in the nature of diplomacy. The
growing sense of the community of nations, the increasing appreciation of the importance of
public opinion and the rapid increase in communications were the major developments of the
nineteenth and twentieth century that affected the theory and practice of diplomacy. The
present day diplomacy, known as new diplomacy is the result of new developments such as
advancement of communication technology; the development of alliance system such as
NATO, BRIC; the increasing importance of public opinion in foreign matters and the
application of the principle of littoral democracy to the conduct of foreign relations.

5.3.1.2 DIPLOMATIC METHODS:

Diplomatic procedures are formally employed by the involved nations to settle the disputes
with other nations. Diplomatic methods include negotiations, good offices, mediation, inquiry
and conciliation.
Negotiation: Negotiations can be either bilateral or multilateral. These can be conducted
directly between Heads of the State or Ambassadors or special representatives of the
countries involved. Negotiations can be held between conflicting parties and also through
international conference. Negotiation usually proceeds in conjunction with good offices or
mediation. It involves consultation and communication.
Good Offices and Mediation: Good offices and mediation involves a friendly third state,
which assists in bringing about an amicable solution to a dispute. The party offering good
offices or mediation may be an individual or an international organization or a state. The
distinction between, good offices and mediation is mostly one of degree. In good offices, a
third party offers its services to bring the disputing parties together and to suggest the making
of a settlement without actually participating in the negotiations or conducting an exhaustive
inquiry. Mediation on the other hand involves the mediating party in a more active role which
includes participating in negotiations and helping reach a peaceful solution. The mediator's
suggestions have no binding character. The scope of good offices and mediation is limited.
No specific procedures are laid down. The effort is to resolve the dispute through voluntary
participation of conflicting nations and negotiation.
Conciliation: Conciliation includes inquiry and mediation. An individual or a Commission
works to bring about conciliation between disputing parties. The UN has resorted to this
method to solve several disputes since 1945. Conciliation includes a variety of methods by
which a dispute is settled amicably with the help of other states or impartial bodies of inquiry
or advisory committees. It usually involves proposals of settlement after investigation of facts
and an effort to reconcile opposing viewpoints. Conciliation commissions have been provided
for in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for peaceful settlement of international
disputes. Such commissions can be set up by special agreement between parties to a dispute.
The commission would investigate and report on situations of fact. However, the
investigation and report are not binding. The pact of Bogota of 1948 provides for conciliation
commissions. An inquiry is different from conciliation in the sense that it does not make any
specific recommendations. However, the inquiry would establish and clarify facts to a
dispute, thereby helping adversaries to go in for a negotiated settlement. A commission of
inquiry is very useful in cases of disputed boundaries.
Check your progress:
1. Elaborate in detail various diplomatic methods adopted to settle international disputes.
2. Discuss any two definitions of Diplomacy.
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5.3.2

INTERNATIONAL LAW:

In the international relations it is often observed that national interest contradict the
conditions of peaceful coexistence. International law acts as a definite constraint on national
power. While national power determines protection of national interest, the international law
works towards guarantee of maintaining peace. International law is generally understood as a
set of rules accepted by nation-states which define their rights and obligations and the
procedures enforcing them.

5.3.2.1 ORIGIN OF INTERNATIONAL LAW:

Need to regulate the relations of sovereign political units was felt even before the emergence
of Westphalian Nation-State system. The ancient civilizations of India, China and Egypt had
treaties, war conventions, diplomatic protocols and other customary laws. The modern system
of international law is rooted in modern European traditions and greatly influenced by the
writings of the jurists of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries like Hugo Grotius
(1583-1645), Francis Lieber (1800-1872), Bluntschli (1808-1872) and David Dudley Field
(1805-1894). Several institutes also contributed towards codification of international law like
Institute de Droit Internatioal (founded in 1973), International Law Association, and The
American Institute of International Law. In 1924, the League of Nations set up a committee
of experts to codify certain international laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the International
Covenant of Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1966) and the Convention on Genocide
(1948) are some important attempts by United Nations to develop comprehensive body of
International Law. The customs and practices that developed over the time were codified and
gradually come to constitute the body of International Law.
5.3.2.2 DEFINITIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW:
There are some definitions of International Law that clarifies the concept. According to
Oppenheim, it is the name for the body of customary and conventional rules which are
considered legally binding by civilized states in their intercourse of states with each other.
Stowell highlights the scope of international law and responsibility of the governments of the
nations to enforce the international law, when he defined international law as embodying
certain rules relating to human relations throughout the world, which are generally observed
by mankind and enforced primarily through the agency of the governments of the
independent communities into which humanity is divided. Fenwick regards international law
as primarily the body of rules accepted by the general community of nations as defining

their rights and the means of procedure by which those rights may be protected or violations
of them redressed.

5.3.2.3 SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Broadly there are five categories of sources of international law, which are as follows.
Customs and Usages: As international law is primarily based on the consent of the states,
customs also play an important role in its formation. Customs are the rules evolved after a
long historical process, which are recognized by the members of the international community
and are now considered as obligatory by the states. Most of the rules with regard to the
diplomats are based on customary law.
Treaties: Treaties contain more definite source of international law. Treaties are binding on
states that are parties to them and are under the obligation to respect the terms contained
therein. There are generally two types of treaties, firstly, those pertaining to specific matters
between the contracting states and secondly, those which lay down general rules for large
number of states. Even though both are important the latter kind of treaties played a vital role
in the development of international law than the former.
The Legal Commentaries: The works of reputed jurists also immensely contribute to the
development and clarification of numerous vague aspects of international law. These
commentaries influence the decisions of courts and also the thinking of the people all over
the world.
The Decisions of the Judicial Courts or Arbitral Tribunals: International judicial
decisions of International Court of Justice and its predecessor, the Permanent Court of
International Justice, are important sources of international law. The advisory opinions of
both these Courts contributed to the development of international jurisprudence. International
Criminal Court is important to complement national legal structures, especially when the
national systems are either unwilling or genuinely unable to proceed. The International,
Regional and State Courts as well lead to the formation of rules of international law.

5.3.2.4 SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

The scope of international law is ever expanding and is generally considered to include three
things. Firstly, Laws of Peace which includes laws relating to states as subjects of
international law pertaining to the birth, recognition and death of a state, succession,
territorial sovereignty, rights and duties of states, jurisdiction, laws of the sea and maritime
highways, state responsibility, nationality, international economic and monetary law,
disarmament, development and environment. Secondly, Laws of War, which is pertaining to
the situations of, armed conflict or war. It seeks to mitigate the effects of war by limiting the

choices and methods of conducting military operations and also obliges the belligerents to
space persons who do not or no longer participate in hostile actions. Lastly, Laws of
Neutrality, which relate the rights and duties of neutral states on the one hand and of the
states engaged in armed conflict on the other.
Check your progress:
1. Do you agree that International Law is effective instrument of international peace? Give
reasons.
2. Explain any two sources of international law.
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5.3.3

UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization, established in 1945 after

World War II to replace the League of Nations as the guardian of international peace and
security. Birth of the UN owes to the circumstances surrounding World War II and failure of
the League of Nations to provide dependable platform to address conflicting claims of the
states that led to the heaviest devastation in the history of human kind. Since birth UN played
critical role in facilitating the peaceful settlement of international disputes. At present there
are 193 member states of the UN.

5.3.3.1 THE ORGANISATION OF UNITED NATIONS

The organization has six principal organs. The General Assembly is deliberative assembly of
all UN member states. Major functions of the General Assembly includes, resolving noncompulsory recommendations to states, or suggestions to the UNSC; to decide on the
admission of new members; to adopt the budget; and to elect the non-permanent members of
the UNSC, all members of ECOSOC, the UN Secretary General, and the 15 Judges of the
ICJ. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) works on international security issues.
The UNSC has 15 members: five permanent members with veto power and ten elected
members. It is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is the
most powerful organ of the UN, as it may adopt compulsory resolutions. Its decision includes
peacekeeping, and peace enforcement missions, as well as non-military pressure mediums,
such as trade embargos. The UN Economic and Social Council works for global economical
and social affairs. It has 54 members, who are elected by the UN General Assembly. It is
responsible for cooperation between states on economic and social fields (raising the general
standard of living, solve, economic, social and health problems, promotion of human rights,
culture and education, as well as humanitarian aid). The UN Secretariat is the administrative

organ of the UN. It supports the other UN bodies administratively, e.g. in the organization of
conferences, writing reports and studies, and the preparation of the budget-plan. Its
chairperson-the UN Secretary General is elected by the UN General Assembly and is the
most important representative of the UN.
The International Court of Justice decides
disputes between states that recognize its jurisdiction and creates legal opinion. The United
Nations Trusteeship Council is currently inactive organ of the UN. It was originally
designed to manage colonial possessions that were earlier League of Nations mandates.

5.3.3.2 UNITED NATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL PEACE

The United Nations provide multiple platforms to resolve the conflicts between the states.
Depending upon the intensity of the threat to international peace that may arise from the
particular dispute the matter can be brought before the General Assembly, the Security
Council, Economic and Social Council or the concerned Specialized Agency. The United
Nations also adopt different methods to achieve and maintain peace in particular situation. It
encourages states to settle their disputes by developing the process of conflict resolution by
peaceful means of their own choice and accords to the organs responsible for the maintenance
of international peace and security and offers a wide range of choice to achieve their desired
ends. In general, the choices can be classified as methods of preventive diplomacy,
peacemaking, peace keeping and peace building. Preventive diplomacy tries to put an end to
a conflict by getting the concerned parties to resolve the conflict before it become violent.
The essence of diplomatic method is that parties to the dispute, after discussing the issue
involved in the dispute, either themselves directly or with the help of an intermediary, agree
upon how the dispute may be resolved. It is the agreement between the parties that settles the
dispute. In diplomatic methods, the solution reached is usually a sort of adjustment of the
differences between the parties, each gaining in part and losing in part in the process.
Peacemaking tries to resolve the conflict diplomatically but only after the bout becomes
violent. It tries to get the involved parties to cease-fire. Peacekeeping is non-aggressive use
of military force to help nations in conflict reach a settlement. Peace building is the last stage
that promotes peace and order by raising social structures, legal systems and sometimes even
setting up a new government.

5.3.3.3 UNITED NATIONS PEACE KEEPING OPERATIONS

Since 1948 (the first UN peacekeeping mission in the Middle East to monitor the Armistice
Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours) there have been a total of 63 UN
peacekeeping operation around the world. During the period of Cold War peacekeeping
activities were limited to military tasks only. Since the close of Cold War it adopted
multidimensional approach which involved helping to build sustainable institutions of
governance to human rights monitoring, to security sector reform, to the disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration of former combatants. Although in 1988 the UN

peacekeeping force received the Nobel Peace Prize, the UN peacekeeping were successful on
some occasions and failed on the other. During the outbreak of the Cold War peacekeeping
agreements were extremely difficult because of the division of the world into hostile camps.
Following the end of the Cold War, there were renewed calls for the UN to become the
agency for achieving world peace, as several dozen ongoing conflicts continued to rage
around the globe. In 2005, the Human Security Report documented a decline in the
occurrences of wars, genocides and human rights abuses since the end of the Cold War, and
presented evidence to appreciate the efforts of the UN towards the peace. In El Salvador and
Mozambique, peacekeeping ensured ways to achieve self-sustaining peace. Sierera Leone,
East Timor and Liberia have been successful operations. But on number of occasions the UN
had to face failure also. UN peacekeeping fared badly and failed in Somalia where
peacekeepers were dispatched without securing either a ceasefire or the consent of warring
parties. Similarly the UN failed to avoid the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the massacre of
Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995. It failed to provide humanitarian aid and
intervene in the Second Congo War, aborted the 1992/1993 peacekeeping operations during
the civil war in Somalia, neglected to implement provisions of Security Council resolutions
related to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, and continuing failure to prevent genocide or
provide assistance in Darfur. UN peacekeepers have also been accused of child rape, sexual
abuse. There are allegations of corruption by the UN executives in the field and in the
headquarters. The UN is one of the official supporters of the World Security Forum, a major
international conference on the effects of global catastrophes and disasters, which took place
in the United Arab Emirates in October 2008.

Check your progress:

1. Critically examine the role of the United Nations in maintaining world peace.
2. Explain any two methods adopted by the United Nations to achieve peace.
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5.3.4

ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT

In international relations, behavior of states is primarily motivated by the concerns for

national security. Traditional approach to national security place heavy emphasis on military
preparedness and arms production. It leads to arms race and ultimately destabilizes
international peace and security. Increased sophistication in the armament technology in
modern times worsened the prospectus of survival of human kind. Especially, the possession
of nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons threatens the very existence of
humanity and world peace. Therefore, it is evident after post First World War that efforts are
made to reduce the possibilities of war and increase the chances of international peace and

security through disarmament and arms control.

5.3.4.1 MEANING OF ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT

Generally, both the terms disarmament and arms control are used interchangeably. But
there is a subtle line of difference between the two. Disarmament means the elimination or
reduction of arms to preserve international peace and security by averting wars. According to
Morgenthau, Disarmament is the reduction or elimination of certain or all armaments for the
purpose of ending the armament race. Charles P. Schleicher defined the terms as, means of
reducing or eliminating the material and human instrumentalities for the exercise of physical
violence. Couloumbis and Wolfe argued that disarmament requires the global destruction of
weapons and the disestablishment of all armed forces. Thus, the range of exponents of
disarmament is wide to include outlawing of all military arsenals and establishments to the
banning of particular weapons and even the implementation of specific agreements designed
to prevent the accidental outbreak of war. No wonder, realists in international relations
considere the approach as too utopian and unattainable to achieve world peace.
As against disarmament, arms control has limited objectives. It generally includes arms
reduction and arms limitation. Arms reduction stands for partial disarmament and it imply a
mutually agreed-upon set of arms levels for the nation-states involved. Arms limitation, on
the other hand, stands for the wide variety of international accords, designed to limit the
impact of war and to prevent the accidental outbreak of war. It may include measures such as
the installation of devices to detonate nuclear testing and agreements between two or more
countries restricting the sale of arms and transfer of nuclear technology. According to
Schleicher, arms control is used to include any kind of cooperation with respect to armament
which could curtail the arms race, reduce the probability of war, or limit its scope and
violence. In the views of Kegley and Wittkopf, arms control means cooperative agreements
between states designed to regulate arms levels either by limiting their growth or by placing
restrictions on how they might be used. Arms control is less ambitious than disarmament,
since it seeks not to eliminate weapons but to regulate their use or moderate the pace at which
they are developed. Thus arms control means a co-operative or multilateral approach to
armament policy where armament policy includes amount and kinds of weapons, forces,
development and utilization in periods of relaxation or tension. It aims at improving national
security by the adjustment of armament capabilities.

5.3.4.2 INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TOWARDS DISARMAMENT AND ARMS

CONTROL
The history of disarmament can be traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. In 1816
Czar of Russia, in the years 1863 and 1869 France, in 1870 Britain and in 1877 Italy took
certain steps to halt arms race. These early efforts were not much successful. In 1898 Tsar of
Russia proposed a scheme of arms reductions that resulted into two Hague Conferences.

Disarmament after World War I: Enormous scale of destruction during First World War
resulted in serious efforts towards maintaining peace by abolition of arms and ammunition.
US President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points called for abolition of arms and
reduction of armament to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety. The Treaty of
Versailles, which established peace after World War I held similar approach of minimum
requirement of arms for nations. League of Nations was charged with the duty of securing an
agreement on the general disarmament. A Permanent Advisory Committee was set up to
formulate the programme for reduction of arms. Since the committee was comprised of
military representatives it failed to progress in the desired direction. A Temporary Mixed
Commission was set up in 1921, containing majority of the civilians as its members followed
by Preparatory Commission. These efforts also failed due to non cooperation of member
states of the League. Outside the League also efforts to control the arms and secure
disarmament were made. Some noteworthy are Washington Conference (1921-22) between
Britain, USA. France, Japan and Italy, Geneva Conference (1927), Conference of
representatives of five major powers at London (1930) and Naval Conference (1935). All
these efforts failed to make any substantial progress towards disarmament. Some of the
reasons were failure of the League to effectively curb aggression of member states,
differences among the members of the Disarmament Conference on various issues, non
acknowledgement of international leaders to economic, psychological and political conditions
prevailing in various countries and finally mutual distrust and suspicion, fear and hatred
among member states. However, a noteworthy development of this period was the Geneva
Protocol (1925) for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other
gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.
Disarmament after World War II: Unprecedented scale of destruction caused during
Second World War and application of Nuclear Weapons that generated fear about complete
annihilation of human race resulted in renewed and more serious efforts towards disarmament
and arms control. Some of the major developments in the field of disarmament and arms
control since World War II can be summarized as follows.
In 1945, The USA, Great Britain, USSR and China signed The Four Power Declaration on
general security and declared to bring about a practical agreement on regulation of
armaments in the post-War period. In 1946, the United Nations Atomic Energy
Commission was founded to dealt with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic
energy in four areas mainly, exchange of basic scientific information between all nations for
peaceful ends, control of atomic energy to ensure its application for peaceful purposes,
elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction from armaments and effective mechanisms to
inspect violations and evasions. The commission operated for brief period and became
ineffective due to super power rivalry between USA and USSR. The United Nations
Commission on Conventional Armaments was established in 1947 to find out ways to
reduce the size of non-nuclear armaments around the world. Its recommendations too were
marred amidst the cold war contestations. The United Nations Disarmament Commission
was created in 1952. In 1956 the Conference on the Statute of International Atomic

Energy Agency was organized and subsequently IAEA was formally inaugurated in 1957. It
was primarily based on the idea that significant amount of fissile materials shall be
transferred to the IAEA by the USSR and the USA which shall be used for peaceful purposes.
The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) was signed in 1963 in Moscow ahich proved a a
significant step towards disarmament as it aimed to reduce the dangers of radioactive fallout
from the nuclear tests in the atmosphere. The Treaty excluded nuclear tests carried out
underground. The Outer Space Treaty (1967) prohibits the states to use orbit around the
Earth and celestial bodies like moon for military purposes and to install weapons of mass
destruction. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968) aims at limiting the spread of
nuclear weapons globally. It basically promotes non-proliferation, disarmament and Peaceful
use of nuclear energy. The NPT met severe criticisms especially from the countries like India,
Pakistan, Brazil and Argentina who objected that the treaty was discriminatory because it was
silent about the control of possessions of the nuclear capabilities of the states belonging to the
Nuclear Club. The Sea-Bed Treaty (1971) between UK, USA and USSR prohibit the state
parties to go beyond the outer limit of a se-bed zone to implant or emplace nuclear
technology for military purposes. The treaty grants right to each state party the right to verify
the commitment of other state parties to the treaty. The Convention on the Prohibition of
the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and their Destruction came into force in 1975 with an objective to achieve
effective progress towards general and complete disarmament, including the prohibition and
elimination of all types of weapons of mass destruction. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
(SALT) were rounds of negotiations and deliberations between USA and USSR held between
two phases, SALT- I (1970-72) and SALT-II (1972-1979). These efforts were targeted
towards easing off the Cold War tensions and enhance the spirit of dtente by developing
means of arms limitations. The talks were concentrated on sophisticate military technology of
Anti-Ballistic Missile System and Strategic Offensive Arms like land based Inter Continental
Ballistic Missiles and submarine launched ballistic missiles. The Threshold Test Ban Treaty
(1974) was signed between USA and USSR with an objective to prohibit the possibility of
testing new or existing nuclear weapons going beyond 150 kilotons. The IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987) between the USA and USSR aimed at elimination of
the ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5500
kilometers. It had a provision for verification of the Treaty by both the signatory states by
which they could monitor and inspect missile production facilities in the territory of each
Party. Under Conventional Arms Cut Treaty (1990) the European countries, the USA and
the USSR were obliged to limit and reduce its battle tanks, armored combat vehicles,
artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the
USA and the USSR had two phases of its developments START I (1991) and START II
(1993). It was mainly focused on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms like
nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles
and bombers. In 1993 representatives of 120 countries signed Chemical Weapons
Agreement at Paris which placed ban on the use, production and stockpiling of chemical
weapons. Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) (1996) is signed by 180 states so far
and ratified by 145 states, bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or

civilian purposes. The Landmines Ban Treaty (1997) obliges each state Party to the treaty
to restrain the use, development, production, storage, transfer and encourage the antipersonnel mines. USA and Russia agreed upon the US-Russian Treaty on Strategic
Offensive Reduction (2002) by which it was decided to limit US and Russia strategic
nuclear warheads by two-thirds in the respective nuclear arsenals of the two countries. AntiToxic Chemical Treaty (2001) was aimed at controlling the production, import, export,
disposal and use of the toxic chemicals.

5.3.4.3 PROBLEMS OF DISARMAMENT:

Disarmament was the most discussed instrument of international peace during 20 th century. In
practice it has certain limitations. According to Morgenthau, the prime factor that put
obstacles to disarmament is, as there is not fix ratio among the armaments of different
nations, the questions of standards of allocation of different types and quantities of
armaments to be allotted to various nations remain unresolved. Further, mutual distrust
among states; concerns of national interest and security; political rivalry and disputes;
advancement of military technology and technological innovations; and finally Military
Industrial Complex in advanced states like USA, France, Britain Russia are some other
factors that neutralizes the efforts towards disarmament and arms control.
Check your progress:
1. Comment on the utility of the disarmament efforts undertaken after World War II.
2. Differentiate between disarmament and arms control.
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5.4

LET US SUM UP

Peace is most sought after objective of the international relations in contemporary world.
Generally the approaches to peace are motivated by the relationship between security and
violence. In 21st century the concept of security acquired broad meaning that considered
manifest as well as structural violence as root causes of insecurity. Thus peace can be
understood in two senses negative peace and positive peace. In this chapter we
emphasized on the approaches that were guided by the negative notions of peace. The fear of
catastrophic violence that the world has witnessed in two world wars along with the threat of
the nuclear violence during cold war period caused the intensification of the efforts of peace
by the world community. By and large four approaches dominated the efforts to maintain the
world peace. Diplomacy, International Law, United Nations and Arms Control and
Disarmament. While diplomacy mainly used by individual governments as an instrument of

execution of foreign policy it is also used for maintaining open channels of communication
between conflicting nations. The governments as well as the United Nations regularly used
diplomatic methods of negotiation, good offices and mediation, and conciliation.
International law as a set of rules accepted by nation-states acts as a definite constraint on
national power and helps to maintain the conditions of peaceful coexistence. On the
organizational front the United Nations provided necessary leadership to coordinate, direct,
supervise and monitor the efforts towards the avoidance of wart. Most discussed and
deliberated approach was arms control and disarmament. Total and partial reduction of
armaments at global as well as regional level was pursued to reduce the possibility of
repetition of devastating experiences of world wars. These four approaches that we studied in
this chapter are commonly employed tools of channelizing the efforts to maintain
international peace.

5.5

UNIT END QUESTIONS

1. Discuss in details the concept of peace and elaborate the relationship between security,
conflict and peace.
2. Define diplomacy and explain various diplomatic procedures adopted to maintain
international peace.
3. What is international law? Explain in detail various sources of international law.
4. Evaluate the performance of United Nations to maintain international peace.
5. Discuss the problems and prospects of disarmament and arms control approach for world
peace.

5.6

REFERENCES

Arend, A.C. & Beck R.J, International Law and the Use of Force, Routledge, 1993,
London
Barash P David (ed.), Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, Oxford University
Press, 2000, New York
Bok, Sissela, A Strategy for Peace: Human Values and the Threat of War, Pantheon
Books, 1989, New York
Boulding, Kenneth. Stable Peace, University of Texas Press, 1978, Austin & London
Brown, Seyon, The Causes and Prevention of War, St. Martin Press, 1987, New York
Ganguly, Sumit & Ted Greenwood. (ed), Mending Fences: Confidence and Security
Building Measures in South Asia, Oxford University Press, 1997, Delhi
Ghosh, P, International Relations, Prentice Hall India, 2011, New Delhi
Jeong, Ho-Won. Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, Ashgate, 2000, Aldershot
Murty, B. S., The International Law of Diplomacy, New Haven Press, 1989, New Haven

Schell, Jonathan, The Unfinished Twentieth Century: The Crisis of Weapons of Mass
Destruction, Verso, 2001, London
Sorensen, Max (ed), Manual of International Law, The MacMillan Press, 1968, London
White, N.D., Keeping the Peace: The United Nations and the Maintenance of
International Peace and Security, 2nd ed., Manchester University Press, 1997, Manchester