The Arms Dynamic in South-East Asia During the Second Cold War by Mark. G Rolls

Author:Mark. G Rolls [Rolls, Mark. G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Strategy, Social Science, General, Developing & Emerging Countries
ISBN: 9781351728485
Google: K_lADwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

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The Internal Security Dimension

Having more or less thoroughly explored the South-East Asian arms dynamic’s external dimension, it is now time to turn more fully to the internal one (acknowledging the nexus between the two provided by aspects of the requirements of defence policy and strategy).

In contrast to the case of external threat assessment where the action-reaction process derived from the superpower ‘arms dynamic’ provided a clear general analytical approach as a starting-point, it is far less evident that the domestic structure model can perform the same function here. This is despite the fact that the internal security dimension as an individual pressure was identified with the domestic structure model subset in the introduction. Indeed, most elements of this model have little or no utility for an analysis of secondary arms dynamics, such as the South-East Asian one, consisting of states which are either part- or non-producers.

Although Buzan recognises that there are elements of the domestic structure model which do have general applicability (mainly the role of ‘organizational pressures from the military establishment …and the domestic insecurity logic of autism’.),1 these elements appear to have been either inapplicable or of marginal relevance to the states under consideration here.2 Of more pertinence to our analysis is the point he makes in his concluding discussion on the relationship between arms production and the ‘arms dynamic’.: namely, that the role of domestic structure will differ from primary to secondary arms dynamics and that the absence of the ‘institutionalisation’ of R & D and production factors means that different internal factors will come into play.3

Viewed in the context of the South-East Asian ‘arms dynamic’ during the Second Cold War, it is readily observable that the most important different internal factor which might have influenced arms acquisitions was that of internal military security threats; one of those domestic (or non-interactive) factors referred to earlier. In spite of the reorientation of many of the states’ security thinking towards external concerns and away from internal ones, there were still instances in which the existence of specific, tangible internal security threats necessitated a military response. As already noted in the context of external threat assessment, of course, arms procurement was not just influenced by actual threats but also potential threats, and thus an assessment of the impact of the internal security threat factor needs to include the idea of potential internal military threats or contingencies too.

In terms of weak or developing states, these actual and potential internal military security threats usually took the form of insurgencies which were motivated and sustained by a variety of forces (for example: communism, ethnic-nationalism and religion). Generally speaking, such insurgencies usually remained at the so-called ‘guerrilla phase’ and did not progress to the stage of mobile, conventional warfare (or a Maoist ‘war of movement’.).4 The military nature of such insurgencies, however, has meant that the idea that they can actually influence the acquisition of major weapons - in effect, that the existence of such internal threats could constitute the internal security dimension of the South-East Asian dynamic - could be called into question.

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