Arms Control

In January, 1990, the Mosher Institute conducted its second annual arms control and disarmament symposium in Houston, Texas. Representatives from the Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, neutral and nonaligned nations, the United States, and the Third World attended. Speakers and commentators included senior members of the U.S. and Soviet armed forces, members of negotiating delegations, and experts from industry and academe.

The proceedings of this symposium, Arms Control: Problems and Prospects, 1990, are the tape recordings, edited only to ensure clarity, of the six sessions: Trends in Military Doctrine: Implications for Future Security Relationships in Europe; Negotiations on Strategic Nuclear Forces and Space; Negotiations on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures; Negotiations on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe; Negotiations on Chemical/Biological Warfare; and Future Directions in Arms Control: A Round Table Discussion.

At this privately funded symposium, the speakers and commentators, free from the normal restraints of official negotiating sessions, were willing to go beyond official positions in discussing ways for improving progress inn arms control efforts. Hence, in addition to clarifying existing positions, these proceedings reflect in many instances new directions advanced as possible alternatives to those currently on the table. At the same time, they present a review of the negotiating history in all the critical months of formal negotiations in each area.

These proceedings, taken together with the proceedings of the 1989 Mosher symposium, European Arms Control: Problems and Prospects, provide a comprehensive view of arms control and disarmament for a two-year period and suggest where official negotiations may lead in the future.