IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arm/wpaper/208.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The T - Rex in the Room: Using Network Analysis to Get a Better Grasp of Small Arms Issues

Author

Listed:
  • Einar Engvig

Abstract

The international small arms and light weapons (SALW) trade is a pervasive, lucrative, poorly regulated and poorly understood network of global business with subtle yet far - reaching consequences on the state of world affairs. While much has been written on the topic of the legal and illegal international SALW trade and its consequences, little has been done to try to understand the extremely complex and nuanced network of the trade as a whole. This report, aimed at addressing this issue, will (1) provide a literature review on SALW nonproliferation and social network analysis for context, (2) posit the case for the usefulness of social network analysis as an innovative descriptive and inferential tool in analyzing international SALW networks and nonprolifer ation efforts, (3) present a description of the data to be utilized in the study, (4) report the findings of the study, (5) provide a contextual analysis of the findings , and (6) conclude. The study finds ( a ) a group of seven significant nations beyond simply measuring for sheer bulk of export and import; ( b ) a K - Core defined subgroup network of 49 most significant global traders ; ( c ) a group of three nations significant by sheer import and export, but not in being n etworked in the K - Core subgroup; ( d ) a considerable overlap between the K - Core subgroup network and participating states of the Wassenaar Arrangement ; ( e ) a minority of 14 K - Core subgroup nations that are not participating states of the Wassenaar A rrangement . It finds that adherence to international treaties for specific international SALW regulation is correlated to an increased net value of legal SALW trade and that membership in an multilateral export control regime is correlated to a decreased n et value of legal SALW trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Einar Engvig, 2014. "The T - Rex in the Room: Using Network Analysis to Get a Better Grasp of Small Arms Issues," SADO - Working Papers 208, Small Arms Data Observatory.
    • Handle: RePEc:arm:wpaper:208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://smallarmsdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SADO-WPS-Engvig.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2014
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Akerman, Anders & Seim, Anna Larsson, 2014. "The global arms trade network 1950–2007," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 535-551.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2017. "Networks of Value-added Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1291-1313, July.
    2. Adelaide Baronchelli & Raul Caruso & Roberto Ricciuti, 2022. "Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons: Are embargoes effective?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1336-1361, May.
    3. Vincenzo Bove & Claudio Deiana & Roberto Nistic�, 2018. "Global Arms Trade and Oil Dependence," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 272-299.
    4. Cary, Michael, 2023. "Climate policy boosts trade competitiveness: Evidence from timber trade networks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    5. Nicholas Apergis & Matteo Bonato & Rangan Gupta & Clement Kyei, 2016. "Does Geopolitical Risks Predict Stock Returns and Volatility of Leading Defense Companies? Evidence from a Nonparametric Approach," Working Papers 201671, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    6. João Amador & Sónia Cabral & Rossana Mastrandrea & Franco Ruzzenenti, 2018. "Who’s Who in Global Value Chains? A Weighted Network Approach," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(5), pages 1039-1059, November.
    7. Mercado, Rogelio & Noviantie, Shanty, 2020. "Financial flows centrality: Empirical evidence using bilateral capital flows," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Silvia Sopranzetti, 2018. "The Italian Districts in the Global Value Chains," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 497-522, November.
    9. Marco Pelliccia, 2015. "Bargaining in Global Communication Networks," Birkbeck Working Papers in Economics and Finance 1507, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
    10. Pamp, Oliver & Lebacher, Michael & Thurner, Paul W. & Ziegler, Eva, 2021. "Explaining destinations and volumes of international arms transfers: A novel network Heckman selection model," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Auer, Daniel & Meierrieks, Daniel, 2021. "Merchants of death: Arms imports and terrorism," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    12. Luca De Benedictis & Silvia Nenci & Gianluca Santoni & Lucia Tajoli & Claudio Vicarelli, 2014. "Network Analysis of World Trade using the BACI-CEPII Dataset," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(03n04), pages 287-343, October.
    13. , D. & Tessone, Claudio J. & ,, 2014. "Nestedness in networks: A theoretical model and some applications," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(3), September.
    14. Filipa Lima & Flávio Pinheiro & João Falcão Silva & Pedro Matos, 2020. "Foreign direct investment – using network analysis to understand the position of Portugal in a global FDI network," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Bridging measurement challenges and analytical needs of external statistics: evolution or revolution?, volume 52, Bank for International Settlements.
    15. Emmanuel Apergis & Nicholas Apergis, 2017. "The impact of 11/13 Paris terrorist attacks on stock prices: evidence from the international defence industry," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 45-48, January.
    16. Aizhi Yu & Huiling She & Jingsheng Cao, 2023. "Evolution of the Spatial Patterns of Global Egg Trading Networks in the 21 Century," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-16, August.
    17. Apergis, Emmanuel & Apergis, Nicholas, 2016. "The 11/13 Paris terrorist attacks and stock prices: The case of the international defense industry," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 186-192.
    18. Blum, Johannes, 2019. "Arms production, national defense spending and arms trade: Examining supply and demand," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    19. Florian Johannsen & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, "undated". "Political Determinants of the Extensive and Intensive Margins of International Arms Transfers," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 228, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Johannes Blum, 2019. "Arms Production, National Defense Spending and Arms Trade: Examining Supply and Demand," ifo Working Paper Series 310, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social network analysis; small arms and light weapons; nonproliferation; arms trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arm:wpaper:208. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Topher McDougal (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://smallarmsdata.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.