Odzbrojení na počátku 21. století – vzestup a pád
Authors: Ondřej Jan 
Published: February 2025

The international peace and security should also be strengthened by the rules of disarmament. Disarmament includes the norms leading to a reduction and liquidation of arms and armed forces including the prohibition of the development and manufacture of new weapons, i.e. disarmament in the proper sense of the word. However, disarmament is often understood in the broader sense, including also such measures which do not result directly in partial reduction of arms and armed forces, but slow down the arms race in numerous respects and are of preventive character. These measures include, in the first place, the stopping of the tests of nuclear weapons, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the formation of nuclear free zones, etc. Such measures which are not expressly of disarmament character are described as arms limitation. The international norms of arms limitation and disarmament are contained almost exclusively in international treaties. However, the origin of customary norms e.g. in the field of prohibition of nuclear tests, cannot be excluded. The development of disarmament depends on political relations among states. The process of disarmament was limited in the past. The collapse of bipolar world has created prerequisite for disarmament. There have been concluded several multilateral and bilateral disarmament treaties in 90ʼs. But in more recent years, the process of disarmament has been slow down or stopped. One of the reasons is, that the USA prefer the unilateral steps concerning mass destruction weapons. There are various problems connecting with disarmament and arms limitation treaties. The Comprehensive Nuclear test-Ban treaty, signed in 1996, was meant to stop the substantial qualitative improvements of nuclear weapons. However, its entry into force is highly problematic. Another problem is connected with Biological Weapons Convention, which does not provide for measures to verify compliance with the obligations assumed by the parties. Efforts to fill this serious gap by adopting a verification protocol have proved unsuccessful. The establishment by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention of an international, legally binding norm against the possession of chemical weapons was an important achievement. However, for different reasons, mainly of an economic and technical nature, the destruction of chemical weapon stocks is not likely to be completed within the time frame prescribed by the Convention. As for disarmament on conventional weapons, the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention was concluded in 1997. But no organization was set up to oversee the Convention on a continuous basis. Another treaty on conventional weapons is the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. No state or group of states has today the capability to launch a surprise armed attack in Europe, now. However, the ceilings for both armaments and military personnel are still too high. We can conclude, that disarmament is likely to make a significant contribution to international security only under a specific set of circumstances. The number of great powers at any one moment probably affects the prospects for successful disarmament.