The United Nations Study on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development
Abstract
The United Nations Study on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development SAGE Publications, Inc.1979DOI: 10.1177/096701067901000301 Inga Thorsson The first UN Group of Governmental Experts on disarmament and development was established in 1971. It was natural at that time for the General Assembly to concentrate on the idea of establishing a link between the Disarmament Decade and the coinciding UN Second Development Decade. Today, in the closing years of the same decade, it is only too obvious that no resources have been transferred from military to development purposes. Instead, military expenditures are soaring, while last year international development assistance hit an all-time low. In plain words, we live in an armaments situation and there is at present no sign of a reverse in the trend. Yet, I would argue that the decision by the Special General Assembly in May-June last year to establish a group of Governmental Experts on the relationship between disarmament and development was highly justified. The idea of a normal link between development and disarmament should not be pursued since there are separate political motives for each of the two objectives. Nevertheless, in a strained world economy, reduced military budgets in the leading military powers probably