Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK
<p>When governments make decisions regarding exports of military equipment, they often look at humanitarian conditions in potential importers, considering the state of human rights or whether arms sales could multiply violence. However, why do governments care about ‘distant strangers’? And wh...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2019
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| _version_ | 1824459243491688448 |
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| author | de Moraes, RF |
| author2 | Hurrell, A |
| author_facet | Hurrell, A de Moraes, RF |
| author_sort | de Moraes, RF |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>When governments make decisions regarding exports of military equipment, they often look at humanitarian conditions in potential importers, considering the state of human rights or whether arms sales could multiply violence. However, why do governments care about ‘distant strangers’? And why are these concerns present in some situations but not in others? I argue that their existence is dependent on the type of domestic political system: the more democratic a country is the more likely governments are to consider humanitarian aspects in decisions regarding arms exports. The causal mechanism is in part explained by activities conducted by norm entrepreneurs, whose emergence is facilitated by the existence of institutions commonly found in democratic countries, especially a system of checks and balances, contested elections, and political and civil liberties. When norm entrepreneurs, through domestic politics, organise campaigns targeting arms exports, governments are more likely to introduce or maintain humanitarian concerns in the decision-making. Domestic politics and norms-based campaigns can therefore shape arms export policies and practice.</p> <p>Although the IR literature has looked at this topic, it has focused on the role of transnational advocacy networks and the creation of international regulations on arms control. This thesis has a different approach: it looks at this topic from the inside-out, demonstrating that the introduction of humanitarian concerns in decisions on arms exports occurred initially through domestic politics. The emergence of international regimes occurred later, reflecting the will of a few states and civil society groups, which sought to export their established norms to the international level, in a process that I call ‘norm uploading’. In this ‘second stage’, civil society groups were more likely to combine efforts with governments to promote treaties regulating the arms trade. </p> <p>This thesis adopts a mixed-method approach. Initially, it uses quantitative methods to test potential determinants of humanitarian concerns in decisions on arms exports, as well as to select cases for further analysis. Subsequently, studies are conducted on Brazil and the United Kingdom. In these countries, I initially look at the causal mechanism through which levels of democracy and civil society campaigns shape behaviour regarding arms exports. Next, I examine why and how the governments of these two countries sought to export their practices to the rest of the world or opted to join international regimes.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:38:41Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:ea25e735-2841-4193-a2cc-4bd0c9932f3c |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:38:41Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ea25e735-2841-4193-a2cc-4bd0c9932f3c2025-02-06T08:44:23ZOur weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UKThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:ea25e735-2841-4193-a2cc-4bd0c9932f3cCivil societyArms controlDemocracyForeign policyDecision-makingEnglishORA Deposit2019de Moraes, RFHurrell, A<p>When governments make decisions regarding exports of military equipment, they often look at humanitarian conditions in potential importers, considering the state of human rights or whether arms sales could multiply violence. However, why do governments care about ‘distant strangers’? And why are these concerns present in some situations but not in others? I argue that their existence is dependent on the type of domestic political system: the more democratic a country is the more likely governments are to consider humanitarian aspects in decisions regarding arms exports. The causal mechanism is in part explained by activities conducted by norm entrepreneurs, whose emergence is facilitated by the existence of institutions commonly found in democratic countries, especially a system of checks and balances, contested elections, and political and civil liberties. When norm entrepreneurs, through domestic politics, organise campaigns targeting arms exports, governments are more likely to introduce or maintain humanitarian concerns in the decision-making. Domestic politics and norms-based campaigns can therefore shape arms export policies and practice.</p> <p>Although the IR literature has looked at this topic, it has focused on the role of transnational advocacy networks and the creation of international regulations on arms control. This thesis has a different approach: it looks at this topic from the inside-out, demonstrating that the introduction of humanitarian concerns in decisions on arms exports occurred initially through domestic politics. The emergence of international regimes occurred later, reflecting the will of a few states and civil society groups, which sought to export their established norms to the international level, in a process that I call ‘norm uploading’. In this ‘second stage’, civil society groups were more likely to combine efforts with governments to promote treaties regulating the arms trade. </p> <p>This thesis adopts a mixed-method approach. Initially, it uses quantitative methods to test potential determinants of humanitarian concerns in decisions on arms exports, as well as to select cases for further analysis. Subsequently, studies are conducted on Brazil and the United Kingdom. In these countries, I initially look at the causal mechanism through which levels of democracy and civil society campaigns shape behaviour regarding arms exports. Next, I examine why and how the governments of these two countries sought to export their practices to the rest of the world or opted to join international regimes.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Civil society Arms control Democracy Foreign policy Decision-making de Moraes, RF Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK |
| title | Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK |
| title_full | Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK |
| title_fullStr | Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK |
| title_full_unstemmed | Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK |
| title_short | Our weapons, our problem: arms exports, democracy and civil society in Brazil and the UK |
| title_sort | our weapons our problem arms exports democracy and civil society in brazil and the uk |
| topic | Civil society Arms control Democracy Foreign policy Decision-making |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT demoraesrf ourweaponsourproblemarmsexportsdemocracyandcivilsocietyinbrazilandtheuk |