Disarmament and Arms Control (7 Arguments)

The case in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control stands supported on the following grounds:

(i) Armaments lead to War, Disarmament can lead to Peace:

All the people of the world want peace and they believe that since armaments lead to war, disarmament can lead to peace. Armaments lead to armament race and armament race leads to war. Hence armaments constitute the cause of war and by eliminating the cause through disarmament, war can be eliminated.

Disarmament, as such, constituents a direct approach to peace and arms control constitutes advance measures and remedies against war. As Coheen observes, “Armaments aggravate tension and fear among nations. By releasing tension and fear, disarmament should facilitate and strengthen the process of peaceful settlement.”

(ii) Armaments lead to Militarism which leads to War:

It is held that armaments make war not only physically possible but also politically probable. Armaments encourage militarism and militarism leads to tensions and fear. Rather than creating a sense of security, armaments in the ultimate form, always create a feeling of insecurity, give rise to mutual jealousy and rivalry, and thereby make the situation so tense that countries often get involved in wars and armed conflicts.

(iii) Disarmament can reduce many tensions in International Relations:

Destruction of instruments of war can secure peace. By ending the instrumentalities of war, disarmament can end war, “It is believed that by doing away with one of the typical manifestations of the struggle for power (armament race) on the international scene, one can do away with the typical efforts of that struggle international anarchy and war.”—Morgenthau

(iv) Economic Arguments in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control:

A very strong and potent argument in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control is that through disarmament the humankind can save a very large amount of funds, which is currently being wasted on the fruitless and dangerous production of armaments. These funds can be used for human welfare and developmental purposes.

Disarmament can release huge economic resources which can be used for securing the developmental needs of all the people of world. “A reduction in nation’s armaments releases sizable funds, which could be transferred to programmes designed to improve the general welfare of that nation’s citizens. In the timeless dilemma of choosing between guns and butter, the advocates of arms reduction opt for the latter.” —Wolfe and Couloumbis

(v) Need of Peace Race in place of Arms Race:

“Peace race” and not “armament race” is what humankind really needs. “It is really an irony that when millions of people in several countries of the globe are perishing due to hunger and disease, many countries are spending a huge proportion of their incomes and resources on the production of armaments.”

(vi) Moral argument in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control:

Another strong and philosophically most effective argument in favour of disarmament is the moral argument. It holds that war is morally wrong, and so is the preparation of war. War is evil and immoral because it involves killings. Since armaments are the means of war, these are also evil. In-fact armaments production is the beginning of the immoral process of war. It is always rational and moral to nip the evil in the bud. Elimination of war demands the elimination of arms and armament race.

(vii) Disarmament is a Universal Objective:

A practical argument, and indeed a very strong argument, in favour of disarmament is that the present craze for armaments is aggravating further the MAD situation and is making humankind more and more dependent upon machines, or more specifically on war machines. It has increased the risk of an all destructive accidental war.


It is a recognized fact that when machines start ruling men, they escape control and run rampant. The growing dangers of modern electronic warfare pose the biggest danger to humankind from an accidental war leading to total destruction. The need, therefore, is to take timely action in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control and save humankind from the present dangerously posed MAD situation in international relations. All these arguments together build a strong case in favour of Disarmament and Arms Control. History of Efforts towards Disarmament and Arms Control.

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