Constructing Regional Security (PDF)

WILLIAM J. DURCH is a senior associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington D.C. He is the author of The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping (SMP, 1993) and UN Peacekeeping, American Policy and the Uncivil Wars of the 1990s (SMP, 1996).

'With his customary meticulous research and thoughtfulness, William Durch has tackled a difficult and important subject. This book is a significant addition to the literature on the international arms trade and efforts to control it. Durch provides hard-headed assessments of past approaches and intelligent discussion of how more progress toward restraint may be achieved in the future.' - Steven Miller, Director of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

'Many pundits offer vague generalizations about the relationship between the arms trade and war and peace. William Durch does us all a huge favor by putting forth clear arguments and testing them against the best statistical and case evidence. This is security policy research of the highest calibre, sensitive to political realities, but constantly looking for workable solutions. In an era when civil wars spill over national boundaries and exacerbate national rivalries, his emphasis on regional regimes to control the arms trade is right on the mark.' - Stephen John Stedman, Senior Research Scholar, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University

'Bill Durch has written a superb book on one of the most critical problems in the world today - regional security. His main argument - that traditional supply-side arms control approaches have to be complemented by demand-side measures that address the security needs of regional actors - is innovative, compelling, and important. This book is destined to become a landmark study in the fields of regional security and arms control. One hopes that it will be widely read by scholars and policymakers alike.' - Michael E. Brown. Director of Research, National Security Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University