A Reference Book on Armaments and Disarmament
| Author | Klaus Törnudd |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677000500105 |
| Published date | 01 March 1970 |
| Date | 01 March 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
68
This
imbalance
is
one
example
of
misplaced
emphasis
in
’Theory
and
Re-
search
on
the
Causes
of
War’.
Another
example
is
the
strong
emphasis
on
nuclear
war
and
its
various
aspects
(this
emphasis
is
indicated
already
at
the
beginning
by
the
familiar
nuclear
mushroom
on
the
cover
of
the
book).
Nuclear
war,
of
course,
is
possible
and
prevention
of
it
is
important,
but
on
the other
hand
it
is
not
the
main
type
of
war
in
the
present
era.
These
main
types
are
nowadays
limited
regional
wars
or
internal
wars
in
which
some
other
states
usually
intervene,
at
least
politically
and
economically.
The
tendency
is
obviously
toward
the
’inter-
nationalization’
of
regional
and
internal
wars,
as
can
be
seen
from
the
Middle
East
conflict.
Inquiry
into
these
aspects
of
war -
investigated
e.g.
by
Rosenau
and
Eckstein
-
have been
systematically
neglected
in
the
present
volume.
The
third example
of
misplaced
empha-
sis
can
be
found
in
the
last
part of
the
book,
entitled
’Toward
an
Integrated
Theory
and
Cumulative
Research’,
which
is
composed
predominantly
of
articles
describing
the
use
of
simulation
in
this
field
(the
article
by
Harold
Guetzkow
is
full
of
insights).
This
seems
to
be
partly
groundless
-
taking
into
account
e.g.
the
problem
of
validity
in
simulation
studies
-
because
there
are
many
other
types
of
approaches
which
can
contribute
to
the
consolidation
of
present
theory
and
at
the
same
time
to
the
cumulation
of
research
(e.g.
the
statistical
approach
described
above).
’Theory
and
Research
on
the
Causes
of
War’
gives
without
doubt
a
broad
picture
of
the
topic,
but
one
cannot
avoid
the
impression
that
some
points
are
emphasized
too
much
and
in
this
way
the
requirement
of
symmetry
in
the
presentation
of
approaches
has
been
forgotten.
Some
approaches
-
especially
simulation
and
theories
of
deterrence
-
have
been
emphasized
too
much,
while
some
impor-
tant
problems
have
been
neglected
almost
totally
(these
deficiencies
are,
however,
logical
consequences
of
the
American
research
tradition
in
this
field).
The
best
and
richest
parts
of
the
volume
are
the
editors’
introductions
to
the
seven
sections.
These
introductions
summarize
well
the
topic
to
be
discussed
and
now
and
then
offer
some
excellent
pieces
of
theorizing.
The
deficiencies
in
the
selection
of
articles
are
partly
compensated
by
these
intro-
ductions.
RAIMO
VÄYRYNEN
A
REFERENCE
BOOK
ON
ARMAMENTS
AND
DISARMAMENT
SIPRI
Yearbook
of
World
Armaments
and
Dis-
armament
1968/69
.
Stockholm
International
Peace
Research
Institute.
Stockholm
I969.
Distributed
by
Almqvist
&
Wiksell,
Stock-
holm,
Humanities
Press,
New
York,
and
Gerald
Duckworth
&
Co,
London.
Reduction
of
armaments
and
control
of
the
arms
trade
were
emphasized
as
impor-
tant
tasks
in
the
Covenant
of
the_ League
of
Nations.
In
Article
8
of
the
Covenant,
the
Members
of
the
League
agreed
that
’the
manufacture
by
private
enterprise
of
munitions
and
implements
of
war
is
open
to
grave
objections’,
and
they
also
under-
took
to
’interchange
full
and
frank
information
as
to
the
scale
of
their
arma-
ments,
their
military,
naval
and
air
programmes’
etc.
Consequently,
the
Dis-
armament
Section
of
the
League
Secre-
tariat
collected
statistical
information
from
the
governments
and
published
between
1924
and
1938
8
two
series
of
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