Disarmament And Defence Industrial Adjustment In South Africa

Peter Batchelor and Susan Willett analyse the response of the South African defence industry to drastic cuts in military expenditure and the demilitarization of society since the end of the cold war and apartheid, and the stabilization of the regional security situation. The new ANC-led government is seeking to use the resources released - the `peace dividend' - to restructure and revitalize the country's industrial base and to support reconstruction, development, and redistribution. A lively debate on the country's security needs and strategic doctrine is under way. As in other countries, strategies of industrial diversification and conversion have met with limited success. In the absence hitherto of any coherent government policy on defence industrial adjustment, significant skills and technologies have been lost or wasted. This book provides a historical analysis of South Africa's unique opportunity to develop new and innovative policies on defence and security matters, the arms industry and arms exports, and makes a valuable contribution to the international debate on the relationship between disarmament and development.

South Africa was the first nation in the world to renounce and destroy its top-secret nuclear weapons capability. Its government also eliminated the ability to produce and deliver these warheads. Because no one archived the official documentary evidence of the program, various writers and scholars, as well as the public at large, have been left to speculate-and forget-the activities that consumed billions of rands and years of dedication. Based on facts and first-hand perspectives, Armament and Disarmament offers intimate views from three participants in the nuclear weapons program. A larger picture emerges through their recollections, fulfilling the role of essential perspectives and documentation where official records no longer exist. Out of secrecy and a need-to-know philosophy, many involved in the program, both wittingly and unwittingly, were never briefed as to how their particular endeavors fit into the bigger scheme. Armament and Disarmament sheds light on the complexity of events surrounding the South African nuclear weapons program and brings tribute to the ingenuity and dedication of all those involved.

From Defence to Development: Redirecting military resources in South Africa

In the post-Cold War era, most countries have been forced to radically reduce their arms industries, and abandoned self-sufficiency in favour of a subordinate role in an increasingly globalized worldwide defence industry. This has significant implications for the future of armaments production, for proliferation, and for arms control.

South Africa's Weapons of Mass Destruction offers an in-depth view of the secret development and voluntary disarmament of South Africa's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons program, Project Coast. Helen E. Purkitt and Stephen F. Burgess explore how systems used for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in South Africa were acquired and established beyond the gaze of international and domestic political actors. On the basis of archival evidence from Project Coast and their own extensive interviews with military and political officials, Purkitt and Burgess consider what motivates countries to acquire and build such powerful weaponry and examine when and how decisions are made to dismantle a military arsenal voluntarily. Questions such as how to destroy weapons safely and keep them from reappearing on international markets are considered along with comparative strategies for successful disarmament in other nation-states.

First published in 2004 , this work is based on a collaborative research project, this trilogy considers the dynamics of demilitarisation and peace-building in southern Africa in the aftermath of major violent conflicts. The overall aim of the research is to support and facilitate the achievement of sustainable peace and human development in southern Africa, by analysing demilitarisation and peace-building processes in the region and identifying policy options and interventions for peace-building. The central focus of the research is the extent to which demilitarisation following the termination of wars has contributed to broad processes of peace-building in the affected region. Has the military in southern Africa downsized and refocused towards new roles? Has there been a 'peace-dividend', allowing more investment in economic and human development, thereby dealing with some of the root causes of conflict? Volume I provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of demilitarisation and peace-building processes, applicable particularly in the southern Africa context. This volume argues that a broad concept of peace-building has to take into account economic, political, social and cultural factors, at the local, national and regional level.

This new volume provides reflections and insights from leading public figures and activists who oppose military expenditure in any form. Many of the contributions to this volume were presented as speeches at the 'Disarm! For a Climate of Peace' meeting held in Berlin in 2016, organized by the International Peace Bureau.

This book on the economics of defence industry assesses a series of historical and contemporary case studies that consistently demonstrate the need for governments to recognise, and thereafter factor, the financial needs of a narrow industrial sector that is capital intensive, technologically advanced and that requires a highly skilled labour force. Since the end of the cold war, Western governments have systematically reduced financial support to their domestic defence industry and have seemingly ignored planning and funding industrial mobilisation. In all cases, government policy has been to encourage industries to consolidate capacity to become financially viable in a sector that has seen diminished demand. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused Western governments to reassess their previous assumptions. Efforts to increase industrial capacity have been met with the iron laws of economics whereby businesses need to show return on investments. The chapters in this volume posit that efforts to rationalise industrial capacity and innovation to meet short-term financial efficiencies, inevitably results in limited, expensive, and long delays in increased production in times of international crisis. This book serves as an essential guide for academics, researchers and students interested in defence economics, industrial economics, international relations, and industrial policy. The chapters in this book were originally published in various issues of Defense & Security Analysis.

Remember the global peace dividend - the budget surpluses that were supposed to result from the raising of the Iron Curtain and the end of the arms race? As war-torn societies in the Middle East, Latin America, and parts of Africa found peace and began building democratic societies, governments were supposed to use the money they once spent on the military to better meet basic human needs. But has it happened?