Oral Presentations
Location
Schewel Hall Room 231
Access Type
Event
Event Website
http://www.lynchburg.edu/academics/red-letter-day/student-scholar-showcase/
Entry Number
131
Start Date
4-6-2016 3:00 PM
End Date
4-6-2016 3:15 PM
Abstract
This research examines the actions and rhetoric of the United States in arms control conferences and the treaties that result from those conferences. Specifically, the thesis examines the Interwar Naval Conferences, a series of five conferences between World War I and World War II that regulated naval armaments and the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which dealt with preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Given the increasing ability of military weapons to wreak massive destruction, disarmament and arms control increasingly became more important pillars of US foreign policy over the course of the twentieth century. The United States has pursued limited disarmament and arms control with regards to the most devastating of these weapons, meaning the effectiveness and motivation for these actions must be examined. The findings of this research conclude that the actions and rhetoric of the United States during the Naval Conferences was realist in character while during the negotiations over the NPT, the actions of the U.S. was realist, while the rhetoric was liberal. It continues to discuss the ideal forms of arms control following the principles of each ideology, concluding that none of the treaties matches up with either realist or liberal principles. They each incorporate elements of both.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Daniel G. (Dan) Lang
Realism and Liberalism as Guiding Philosophies of American Conduct in International Arms Control
Schewel Hall Room 231
This research examines the actions and rhetoric of the United States in arms control conferences and the treaties that result from those conferences. Specifically, the thesis examines the Interwar Naval Conferences, a series of five conferences between World War I and World War II that regulated naval armaments and the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which dealt with preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Given the increasing ability of military weapons to wreak massive destruction, disarmament and arms control increasingly became more important pillars of US foreign policy over the course of the twentieth century. The United States has pursued limited disarmament and arms control with regards to the most devastating of these weapons, meaning the effectiveness and motivation for these actions must be examined. The findings of this research conclude that the actions and rhetoric of the United States during the Naval Conferences was realist in character while during the negotiations over the NPT, the actions of the U.S. was realist, while the rhetoric was liberal. It continues to discuss the ideal forms of arms control following the principles of each ideology, concluding that none of the treaties matches up with either realist or liberal principles. They each incorporate elements of both.
https://digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu/studentshowcase/2016/Presentations/5