Book Reviews : World Armaments and Disarmament, SIPRI Yearbook 1982. Taylor & Francis, London, £22.50
| Published date | 01 October 1982 |
| Date | 01 October 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788200700411 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
2245
The
book
presents
a
lirst
step
towards
a
systematic
study
of
the
nature
and
size
of
transfer
payments
between
consumers,
producers,
taxpayers
and
member
states
as
a
whole.
It
reviews
the
development
of
the
CAP
and
its
present
difficulties,
and
the
existing
literature
assessing
the
cost
of
the
CAP.
The
study
then
discusses
four
alternative
policies.
These
are
the
1980
price
package:
the
harmonisation
of
Community
prices
(that
is.
if
the
so-called
Monetary
Compensatory
Amounts,
which
allow
for
different
prices
in
Community
countries,
were
done
away
with);
Community
self-sufficiency
(rather
than
a
guarantee
of
regular
supplies);
and
a
free
market
in
agricultural
products
(rather
than
massive
intervention).
The
results
by
commodity
groups
and
by
country
are
then
analysed.
It
is
not
always
easy
reading
for
non-economists-or
perhaps
even
non-econometricians-although
this
is
not
often
the
fault
of the
authors’
prose.
Certainly
the
conclusions
are
clear
enough:
that.
for
example,
&dquo;transfers
arising
from
the
support
levels of theCAP
are
regressive
within
the
member
states
and
inequitable
between
them&dquo;
(p.164).
The
authors
also
see
the
re-emergence
of the
endemic
problems
of the
CAP
during
the
1980s,
with
growing
surpluses
and
the
concomitant
budgetary
costs
of disposing
of
them.
and
the
increasing
problems
in
the
budgetary
balance
among
member states.
Moreover,
the
degree
of national flexibility
with
the
CAP
afforded
by
MCAs
has
been
exploited
to
the
full
and
has
been
reduced
by
the
relative
stability
of
the
European
Monetary
System,
even
though
national
conditions
remain
very
different.
The
book
ends
with
a
nod
to
the
future
and
the
further
complexities
and
difficulties
likely
if
and
when
further
enlargement
takes
place.
World
Armaments
and
Disarmament,
SIPRI
Yearbook
1982.
Taylor
&
Francis,
London,
£22.50.
This,
the
Thirteenth
Sipri
Yearbook.
presents
a
very
gloomy
picture
tor anyone
other than those
with
a
vested
interest
in
the
arms
trade.
Despite
the
general
worlci
economic
recession,
world
military
spending
during
the
past
four
years
has
been
moving
up
at
a
rate
ofabout
3 percent
a year in volume,
rather
taster
than
the
trend
in
the
first
half of the
1970s.
A
steady
rise
continues
in
Soviet
military
spending.
although
it
is
estimated
that
the
Soviet
Union
still
lags
behind
the
United
States
in
weapon
technology,
particularly
in
micro-electronics
and
computers.
In
the
United
States
however,
a
very
sharp
rise
in
military
spending
is
now
apparent:
in
1980 and
1981,
the
volume
rise
was just
under5
percent
a
year.
while
the
5-year plan
presented
in
the
1983
budget
called
for
a
volume
increase
of
8 per cent.
There
is
as
yet
no
sign of
any
acceleration
in
the
rise
of
military
spending
in
NATO
countries.
other
than
the
U.S.,
taken
together.
In
China,
however,
the
situation
is
very
different:
in
1981
the
Chinese
military
budget
was
cut
by
13
per
cent.
The
arms
trade
has
continued
to
boom,
with
the
Soviet
union
overtaking
the
United
States
as
the
leading
exporter
of major
weapons
in
the
period
1979-~ I.
U.S.
arms
exports
during
that
period
actually
fell,
as
a
result
of President
Carter’s
policy
of
restraint.
Both
Brazil
and
Argentina
have
developed
significant
arms
industries
in
recent
years.
To
set
against
this
depressing
outline.
there
is
little
sign
of
hope
on
the
disarmament
front.
No
significant
progress
was
made
of
any
kind
in
1981
in
arms
control
or
disarmament.
but
the
increasingly
vocal
public
concern,
in
the
USA
and
Western
Europe
in
particular
but
also
beginning
in
Eastern
Europe,
may
give
greater
impetus
to
the
talks
in
the
various
fora
in
the
coming
years.
The
objective
of
the
Yearbook
&dquo;to
provide
well-researched
information
on
what
is
happening
in
the
world’s
military
sector,
and
to
describe
the
progress
( if any)
at
attempts
at
restraint&dquo;
as
the
Preface
states,
is
admirably
fulfilled.
The
book
is
divided
into
four
parts:
Part
I-European
Security:
Part
1I-Developments
in
World
Armaments
in
1981:
Part
III-Latin
America:
a
regional
study:
and
Part
IV-Developments
in
Arms
Control
in
1981.
There
is
particular
emphasis
this
year
on
European
issues,
with
chapters
on
long-range
theatre
nuclear
forces
in
Europe,
and
on
the
Nordic
proposals
for
a
nuclear
weapon-free
zone.
There
are
the
usual
reports
on
world
military
expenditure,
on
arms
production,
on
strategic
nuclear
weapons, on
nuclearweapon
tests, on
the
military
use
ofsatellites,
and on
the arms
trade.
There
are
copious,
detailed
Tables
and
a
good
index.
The
only
reservation
one
should
perhaps
bear
in
mind
is
that
all
Sipri
data
come
from
published
sources,
and
that
information
about
the
USA
and
Western
Europe
is
very
much
more
accessible
than
that
about
Russia
and
Eastern
Europe.
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