Growing Defense Production in Newly Industrializing Countries: Impact on U.S. National Security

摘要

The growth in arms production among newly industrializing countries, while not dramatic or decisive in global terms, is proving important to international relations in general and to U.S. national security interests in particular. In all likelihood, these capacities will grow, but not come near matching those of the major arms suppliers in the coming decades. In specific regions and at specific times such manufacturing prowess could affect the course of history. Up to the present this new industrial dynamic has had a limited impact, but it could prove more influential in the future. At any rate, the United States is well advised to pay closer attention to this development and to fashion policies that seek to ensure that new arms production supports rather than conflicts with its national security goals. No single grand policy will prove effective. Instead, this country should follow a two-tracked approach, striving to lessen the proliferation of arms industries on a global scale, but deciding whether to give assistance to weapons production aspirants on a case-by-case basis to individual countries in light of what it perceives are its interests. (Author)