Overview

Taking Aim at The Arms Trade: NGOs, Global Civil Society and the World Military Order takes a critical look at the ways in which NGOs portray the arms trade as a problem of international politics and the strategies they use to effect change. NGOs have been pivotal in bringing the suffering caused by the arms trade to public attention, documenting its negative impact on human rights, conflict, security and development around the world, and pushing for measures to control or eradicate the trade. Overall, however, their activity has helped sideline debate on Northern military predominance while facilitating intervention in the South based on liberal understandings of the arms trade, conflict, development and human rights. They thus contribute to the perpetuation of a hierarchical world military order and the construction of the South as a site of Northern benevolence and intervention. Stavrianakis exposes the tensions inherent in NGOs' engagement with the arms trade and argues for a re-examination of dominant assumptions about NGOs as global civil society actors.

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9781848132696

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Reviews

'Is civil society the answer to war? Anna Stavrianakis' pioneering study, examining NGO responses to the arms trade, demonstrates the ambiguities of their relationships. This well-researched, incisive study is essential reading for anyone concerned with the possibilities of change and challenges to military power in our society.' - Martin Shaw, Research Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Sussex Anna Stavrianakis has written a critical account of non-governmental activism that challenges preconceived notions of the progressive and benevolent nature of civil society, and sheds light on the complex inter-relationships between states and NGOs, and between interests and power. Her reframing of the arms trade within broader historical processes and structures provides a welcome corrective that should interest NGO activists and scholars alike. - Keith Krause, Professor, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva 'Anna Stavrianakis brilliantly researched book provides an original and critical examination of the relationship between NGOs and the international arms trade. While outward commitments to transparency, human rights and international law are the order of the day, this timely and nuanced analysis delves beneath the surface to reveal a far more interesting and worrying story. An essential read for all those interested in the arm trade and the limitations and constraints facing civil society campaigns.' - Mark Duffield, Director, Global Insecurities Centre, University of Bristol 'Although this book is a study of a specific group of non-government organisations in just one country - the arms trade control movement in Britain - it is highly relevant to much wider aspects of non-government public action right across the world. Anna Stavrianakis combines detailed analysis with critical insights in a manner that is both illuminating and stimulating and raises issues that are at the core of civil society. She has written a book that deserves to be read and thought about not just by activists and policy advisers but by anyone in the academic community and, indeed, in politics as a whole, who is concerned with peaceful social change.' - Paul Rogers, Bradford University

'This well-researched, incisive study is essential reading for anyone concerned with the possibilities of change and challenges to military power in our society.' Martin Shaw, University of Sussex 'Anna Stavrianakis has written a critical account of non-governmental activism that challenges preconceived notions of the progressive and benevolent nature of civil society, and sheds light on the complex inter-relationships between states and NGOs, and between interests and power.' Keith Krause, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva 'Anna Stavrianakis brilliantly researched book provides an original and critical examination of the relationship between NGOs and the international arms trade.' Mark Duffield, University of Bristol 'Anna Stavrianakis combines detailed analysis with critical insights in a manner that is both illuminating and stimulating and raises issues that are at the core of civil society. She has written a book that deserves to be read and thought about not just by activists and policy advisers but by anyone in the academic community and, indeed, in politics as a whole, who is concerned with peaceful social change.' Paul Rogers, Bradford University

Author Information

Anna Stavrianakis is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sussex. Her main research interests are NGOs and global civil society; the arms trade and military globalisation; and critical approaches to the study of international security.

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