European Security and the Russian Duma

Surveying international security over the last ten years nds a reduction in the focus on arms control as a contemporary security policy issue. Arms control is seen as an issue that coexisted with nuclear deterrence as part of Cold War between the USA and the USSR. The nuclear tests by India and Pakistan and the recent Senate failure to ratify the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) did not draw the headlines nor concern that such actions would have had ten years ago. The focus of contemporary security policy is on regional tensions related to local circumstances such as the Persian Gulf, the Middle East Peace Process, China and Taiwan, Sub-Sahara Africa, peace-keeping and humanitarian operations, the role of the United Nations and issues relating to armed forces and society. All of these are in a world that is no longer a bi-polar world dominated by two nuclear superpowers. The 14 April 2000 rati cation by the Russian Duma of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) II has brought arms control back to the front of contemporary security policy issues. This time, it is not as a means of reducing tension between the USA and USSR but to highlight the role of a new actor in international security – the Russian Duma