Negotiating Arms Control
| Author | George Ignatieff |
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207503000108 |
| Subject Matter | Diplomatic Method |
GEORGE
IGNATIEFF
Negotiating
arms
control
'Patience
is
the
art
of
hoping,'
it
has
been
said.
Nothing requires
more
patience
or
practice
in the
art
of
hoping
than
disarmament.
For
the
ideal
negotiator in
theory,
one
might
well
turn
to
St
Paul
and
accept
his
advice
to
the
apostle
Timothy,
when he
said:
'And the
servant
of
the
Lord
must
not
strive,
but
be gentle
unto
all
men,
apt
to
teach,
patient,
in
meekness
instructing
those
that
oppose
themselves.'
In
practice,
disarmament
negotiations
are
orchestrated and
conducted
by
the
most
heavily
armed
powers,
in
the
interests
of
the
most heavily
armed
powers,
and
have
more
to
do
with
horse
trading
than
with
St
Paul.
Even
the
most
powerful,
however,
cannot
be
heedless
of
the
requirements
of survival,
and
the
necessity
of
avoiding
the
ap-
palling
destructiveness
of
resort
to
nuclear
war.
The
realization
of
the
growing
unacceptability
of
the
risks
involved
in the
use
of
the
ultimate
force
provided
by
modern
technology,
together
with
the
serious
risks of
unfettered
proliferation
of
nuclear
weapons,
has
resulted
in
a
great
deal
of
activity
in
negotiations
on
dis-
armament,
even
though
the
extent
of
achievement in
reducing
the
risks
of
nuclear
war
is
still
clearly
inadequate.
In
fact,
in
the
whole
postwar
period,
only
one
disarmament
measure
(ie,
the
abolition
or reduction
of
armaments
or
armed
forces)
has been
agreed
to
by
the
principal military
powers -
the
prohibition
of
the
development, production,
and
stockpiling
of
bacteriological and
toxin
weapons
in
1972,
a
form
of
warfare
regarded
as
particularly
impracticable
because
of
its
uncontrollable
boomerang
effects.
Provost
of
Trinity
College,
Toronto;
formerly
Canadian
ambassador
and
permanent
representative
to
the
Conference
of
the Committee
on
Disarmament
1968-71.
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