ABSTRACT
The post-Cold War saw the emergence of small arms control treaties as a major framework for
promoting global peace and security. However, the implementation of some of these instruments
has to date proven ineffective and, thus, a central issue in scholarly debates on Small Arms and
Light Weapons (SALW) control. SALW continued to flow to areas of conflict, and to non-state
armed groups around the world. Extant literature suggested that structural imbalance in
international configurations of power and the triumph of the market over human rights and
collective security on the side of states, and arms trafficking by non-state actors, were key
challenges to effective implementation of SALW control policies. While these studies were
important, the relationship to SALW proliferation in the Niger Delta has rarely attracted
scholarly attention. This study, therefore, addressed three key questions. Does the intersection of
politics and economics undermine the effective implementation of arms control policies and
engender SALW proliferation in the Niger Delta? How does unlawful trafficking for economic
and socio-political motivations by non-state actors weaken the implementation of small arms
control policies and influence arms proliferation in the Niger Delta? Is there any relationship
between Nigeria’s weak commitment to the implementation of the humanitarian goals of
international small arms control policies and SALW proliferation in the Niger Delta? Adopting
the qualitative case study research method for data collection and interpretation, and situating the
analysis within theoretical framework of post-internationalism, it argued that the political
economy of small arms control premised on material gains and state survival rather than human
security engendered arms proliferation in the Niger Delta. Consequently, the study recommended
that constructive engagement with the core arms supplier states and other foreign powers by the
Nigerian government is required to stem the proliferation of SALW in the Niger Delta.
Keywords: Small Arms, Arms Proliferation, Arms Trafficking, Arms Control, Non-state Actors,
Economics, Politics, Niger Delta
NYIAYAANA, K (2021). International Arms Control Policy Implementation Problems And Small Arms Proliferation In The Niger Delta. Afribary. Retrieved from https://afribary.com/works/international-arms-control-policy-implementation-problems-and-small-arms-proliferation-in-the-niger-delta
NYIAYAANA, KIALEE "International Arms Control Policy Implementation Problems And Small Arms Proliferation In The Niger Delta" Afribary. Afribary, 05 May. 2021, https://afribary.com/works/international-arms-control-policy-implementation-problems-and-small-arms-proliferation-in-the-niger-delta. Accessed 27 Dec. 2024.
NYIAYAANA, KIALEE . "International Arms Control Policy Implementation Problems And Small Arms Proliferation In The Niger Delta". Afribary, Afribary, 05 May. 2021. Web. 27 Dec. 2024. < https://afribary.com/works/international-arms-control-policy-implementation-problems-and-small-arms-proliferation-in-the-niger-delta >.
NYIAYAANA, KIALEE . "International Arms Control Policy Implementation Problems And Small Arms Proliferation In The Niger Delta" Afribary (2021). Accessed December 27, 2024. https://afribary.com/works/international-arms-control-policy-implementation-problems-and-small-arms-proliferation-in-the-niger-delta