An Appraisal of the Politics of Disarmament During the Cold War
The years after the second world war marked the beginning of the cold war characterized by the arms race. This arms race became dangerous that there was fear that there will be an another major war after the second world war. The fear of the outbreak of another major war led to the clamour for the elimination and the destruction of weapons of mass destruction capable of causing great harm to humanity. The central focus of this paper is to interrogate how the campaign for nuclear disarmament, was successful during the cold war era. The research is based on the zero sum games theory of international relations. The researchers employed historical (output) analysis because the study is a reflection of the arms race during the cold war era by examining documents and facts concerning the study period. The study found that, though there were frantic efforts to curtail arms proliferation by the non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS), these efforts have not been successful because of the actions and inactions of the nuclear weapon states (NWS). The paper, therefore, concludes that there was hardly any tangible evidence in the reduction of arms proliferation. To this end, the paper recommends that for the menace to be eradicated, the dichotomy of (NWS) and the (NNWS) be abolished and the norm, evaluation, and monitoring process must be the same for all parties to the treaty of non-proliferation and the parties should set a clear time frame within which any actions must be completed. ;
Keywords: appraisal, cold, disarmament, politics, war