Biological Warfare and Disarmament: New Problems/New Perspectives

This text looks at the problem of biological warfare and the challenge of achieving biological disarmament. Approaches to this issue have been overwhelmingly dominated by a western and particularly US perspective that reducess the question to the spread of these weapons among non-western countries and non-state sectors. Since the september 11th terrorist attacks, this position has hardened, giving rise to a strongly polarized discourse that embraces nuclear weapons as the ultimate key to security. In view of this increasing polarization and the reliance of the US on military power as the basis for security, it is vital to reassess western policies on biological warfare and to seek alternatives that support international cooperation in reaffirming the the norm of biological disarmament. This volume brings together authors with a broad diversity of geographical and professional backgrounds to take up this challenge. The book emphasises placing post-Cold War concerns about biological warfare in context. Highlighting the importance of understanding often-marginalized non-western perspectives, this text proposes approaches to overcome one of the most intractable security problems of the 21st century.