Democracies and Transparency: Country Reports to the UN Register of Conventional Arms, 1992-2001

This study assesses participation in the UN Register of Conventional Arms (UNRCA) in its first decade (1992-2001) of operation to determine the effects of democracy on international transparency. First, the function of the UNRCA is discussed. Second, transparency is defined and then explained by democracy and factors recognized in two international politics theories: realism, which emphasizes the effects of state capabilities and interests, and liberal institutionalism, which stresses the facilitative role of international institutions. Third, preliminary judgments are offered based on the frequency and nature of participation in the UNRCA, the consistency between export and import reports to the register, and participation in the register by democracies and non-democracies. Fourth, a cross-sectional time-series logit model is specified and tested to determine the relative effects of democracy on participation in the UN register. The study concludes that existing international politics theories go a long way toward accounting for patterns of openness and deception in international politics but not the full extent that security policies owe to domestic structures and processes.