Why Nations Arm

This book is a study of military forces, treating the causes of militarism, world trends in arms policies, and their implications for war and peace. Payne argues that nations do not set their level of forces rationally in response to foreign threats. Instead, they are influenced by cultural and ideological prejudices. As a result they either arm too much, or too little. The author incorporates into his findings suggestions for how the US should deal with militarism abroad, and how it should adjust its own military policies accordingly. The book is designed to be of interest to a broad range of students and researchers in the fields of political science, political philosophy, international relations and strategic, defence and peace studies. General readers may also find it of interest.