Conflict in the Post-Cold War Era: The Role of Light Weapons

What does it take to wage war? For many people, the images that first come to mind are of heavy equipment: bombers, tanks, aircraft carriers, destroyers, helicopters. Such equipment was integral to World War II and the Vietnam War. But, in the past two decades, conflicts around the globe have taken on a different character. They may involve governments but, typically, insurgent groups and militias have important roles. These latter groups have neither the resources nor the organizational structure needed to acquire and utilize heavy weapons. Instead, they make effective use of small arms and light weapons.

The draw of light weapons

Typical light weapons include automatic pistols, rapid-fire assault rifles, submachine guns, shoulder-fired rockets, mortars, and light anti-tank weapons. These weapons are relatively inexpensive, widely available, highly lethal, easy to operate and maintain, and portable. These weapons have killed several million people in major ethnic and religious conflicts around the world in the past decade.

The widespread availability of light weapons has fueled these conflicts and contributed to their lethality. Access to light, easy-to-operate weapons has also promoted the involvement of child soldiers in brutal conflicts.

Responding to the problems posed by light weapons

The growing numbers and intensity of local and regional conflicts dramatize the need to control the trafficking in light weapons. Such control must address legal transfers of these weapons, as well as illicit trade and the cycling of such weapons within nations and regions.

A strong and effective international code of conduct on arms transfers is essential. A strong and effective U.S. code of conduct is also needed, since U.S. manufacturers are major suppliers of weapons to markets world-wide.

For a clear and informative overview of the complex issues surrounding the trade in light weapons, we recommend Light Weapons and Civil Conflict: Controlling the Tools of Violence, edited by Jeffrey Boutwell and Michael T. Klare and published by Rowman & Littlefield: New York, 1999, 244 pp.