APM Arms Control - Small and Middle Powers Step In.

This paper examines the role small and mid-size states have played in initiating and developing the landmine-ban issue, which eventually changed hegemon behavior toward landmines. It analyzes how small and mid-size states were able to generate international action toward support of the Ottawa Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, which marked the first time a weapon in widespread use has been banned. The paper makes two interrelated arguments. First, small and mid-size states worked among themselves and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which helped the landmine issue gain international legal legitimacy, and intense media and public attention in order to counter hegemon opposition. Second, small and mid-size states changed hegemon perceptions toward the legality of landmine use by creating an alternative, majority voting based negotiating framework outside the UN based consensus-voting system. In comparison, most disarmament treaties are negotiated within the UN system, at the behest of hegemons and exclude small and mid-size states from important roles in the negotiating process. These arguments address the broader question of the small and mid-size state role in initiating and controlling the international arms control agenda by showing the potential conditions of how they can get governments, including hegemons, to prohibit weapons that are heavily used and which retain a military utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]