Disarmament As A Chance For Human Development

Paper prepared for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 1992. The reduction in tension between the superpowers offers the opportunity to release funds, a peace dividend that could be put to constructive use. This paper considers whether this opportunity, as expressed in the Human Development Report 1991, has been taken, and suggests measures to further human development in the aftermath of the Cold War.

On November 10, 2017, Pope Francis became the first pontiff in the nuclear era to take a complete stand against nuclear weapons, even as a form of deterrence. At a Vatican conference of leaders in the field of disarmament, he made it clear that the possession of the bomb itself was immoral. A World Free from Nuclear Weapons presents the pope’s address and original testimony from Nobel Peace Prize laureates, religious leaders, diplomats, and civil society activists. These luminaries, which include the pope and a Hiroshima survivor, make the moral case against possessing, manufacturing, and deploying nuclear arms. Drew Christiansen, a member of the Holy See delegation to the 2017 United Nations conference that negotiated the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, helps readers to understand this conference in its historical context. A World Free from Nuclear Weapons is a critical companion for scholars of modern Catholicism, moral theology, and peace studies, as well as policymakers working on effective disarmament. It shows how the Church’s revised position presents an opportunity for global leaders to connect disarmament to larger movements for peace, pointing toward future action.

The escalating arms race and increasing pressure for Third World development have created an intensifying competition for scarce resources. The escalation of the arms race has resulted in slower and more uneven economic growth and development. The disappointing history of disarmament efforts and the unsatisfactory results in establishing a new international economic order underlie the reluctance to perceive a viable relationship between development and disarmament. The seventeen articles in part one of this volume focus on some of the major problems faced by Third World countries, the policy issues posed by the competition between disarmament and development, and offer some guidelines for international disarmament policies.

- Group of Seven

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.

Since its headline-making debut, the Human Development Report has become an essential resource for development specialists, economists, and political scientists around the world. The 1992 Report not only updates the findings of the earlier volumes, but also examines the international dimensions of human development, showing how global economic growth and the expansion of the world economy have filtered down to poor economies and poor people in developing countries. In addition, it examines tcpks between human development and international markets for products, capital, and labor, addresses issues of global governance, and presents updated human development indicators for more than 160 countries.