• Of the 27 major armed conflicts in 1996, only one - between India and Pakistan - was interstate. All the others were internal conflicts.

• The current case of Albania continues a troubling trend, seen in Bosnia and Herzegovian and Zaire, towards deployment of non-UN peacekeeping operations in difficult cases - despite the fact that the United Nations, at great expense and effort, is itself becoming increasingly capable of conducting such missions.

• The new UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, appears ready to pursue UN reform vigorously, announcing in March 1997 a 'two-track' approach of immediate managerial changes and a plan for fundamental longer-term reforms by July.

• The new Israeli Government seemed intent on reviewing the basic understandings of the Middle East peace process in 1996, causing many Arab states to review their participation and to halt the normalization of relations with Israel.

• In the former USSR, 1996 started with open hostilities in two conflict zones, Chechnya and Tajikistan. Political dialogue brought peace settlements to Chechnya, the Trans-Dniester region and South Ossetia, but the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia remained deadlocked.

• NATO-Russian relations became a key feature of European security in 1996. The transformation of the EU, the OSCE and other multilateral structures, the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Amsterdam in June and decisions on NATO enlargement at the July Madrid Conference will shape an overlapping, multi-layered regional security system in Europe.

Military spending and armaments

• NATO military expenditure continued to decline in 1996. Spending in the USA alone fell by almost 5% in real terms over the previous year, and South-East Asia maintained its reputation as the region with the fastest-growing defence expenditure in the world.

• Global military research and development expenditure is still declining, but Japan and South Korea continue to increase their military R&D activities, indicating that they see the development of independent arms industries as an end in itself.

• The previous decline in military production is beginning to level out, simultaneously with a continued concentration in the arms industry in most parts of the world, particularly in the United States.

• The SIPRI global trend-indicator value for deliveries of major conventional weapons in 1996 was $23 billion. This is a very slight reduction from the level recorded for 1995. The USA accounted for 44% of the deliveries of major conventional weapons and Russia for 20%.

Non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament

• Although progress was made in 1996 in strengthening the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and in eliminating nuclear weapons in the USA and the former USSR, there were clear signs that the momentum behind further nuclear arms control was waning.

• The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997; it has been ratified by the USA but not by Russia - the two major possessors of chemical weapons. The threat of the use of chemical weapons by terrorist or criminal organizations will continue to be a top security concern for many governments.

• As the issue of NATO enlargement evolved, Russia urged adaptation of the CFE Treaty and the OSCE Lisbon Summit set an ambitious agenda for future negotiations. The Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control signed at Florence in June 1996 provides for destruction of some 6000 pieces of conventional weaponry in the former Yugoslavia before November 1997. Although blatant discrepancies were found between declared reduction liabilities and actual stocks, 1750 heavy weapon items had been reduced by January 1997.

Introduction: The emerging international security agenda

Part I. Security and conflicts, 1996

• Chapter 1. Major armed conflicts
  
• Chapter 2. Armed conflict prevention, management and resolution
  
• Chapter 3. The Middle East peace process
  
• Chapter 4. Russia: conflicts and its security environment
  
• Chapter 5. Europe: in search of cooperative security

Part II. Military spending and armaments, 1996

• Chapter 6. Military expenditure
  
• Chapter 7. Military research and development
  
• Chapter 8. Arms production
  
• Chapter 9. The trade in major conventional weapons

Part III. Non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament, 1996

• Chapter 10. Multilateral military-related export control measures
  
• Chapter 11. Nuclear arms control
  
• Chapter 12. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
  
• Chapter 13. Chemical and biological weapon developments and arms control
  
• Chapter 14. Conventional arms control
  

Annexes

• Annexe A. Arms control and disarmament agreements
  
• Annexe B. Chronology 1996

Plus a glossary of terms and membership of multilateral organizations, tables, figures, maps, data appendices and extensive documentation

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