Dangerous Weapons, Desperate States: Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, and Ukraine

With the collapse of the USSR, fifteen fledgling sates inherited a massive Soviet arsenal, unstable political systems, and desperate economies. A "sell everything" mentality threatens to result in the largest arms bazaar in human history, and this potential "fire sale" includes weapons of mass destruction. This book addresses the challenges the new independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union (FSU) face in controlling and monitoring their sensitive, military-related exports.Dangerous Weapons, Desperate States explores the various theoretical approaches that help explain the development of nonproliferation export control systems in the NIS. The contributors, coming from both the FSU states and the US, provide a broad range of perspectives on the problems posed by the threat of proliferation.

Gary Bertsch is the University Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia. He is co-author of Arms on the Market: Reducing the Risk ofProliferation in the Former Soviet Union (Routledge, 1998), U.S. and Japanese Nonproliferation Export Controls (1996) and International Cooperation on NonproliferationExport Controls (1994). William Potter is Professor and Director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and Director of the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.