The United States Foreign Disarmament Policy (Research Paper Sample)

DISARMAMENT
A foreign policy is a strategy in which a nation relates to other foreign countries. The countries set principles of interaction for their corporations, organizations and system citizens. The United States foreign policy involves how it interacts with other nations. Disarmament is the withdrawal or reduction of military weapons or forces.
The United States foreign disarmament policy was formulated in the 1920s. The formulation was prompted by two factors. The Americans believed that the arms buildup especially that of the Anglo-German Naval was the cause of the 1st World War (Kuehn, 2011). They formulated this policy with a view of preventing another World War. The second factor is that the Americans were afraid of Japan since it was growing military wise. They feared that japan will threaten the interests of the Americans. Japan had taken advantage of the World War and seized almost all the Germany possessions in China and in the Western Pacific. They, therefore, knew that this policy will hinder the japan from limiting the Americans interests in the regions. The United States of America, therefore, hosted a conference in Washington on November 1921 to February 1922. The superpower countries that include Great Britain, Japan, Italy, France and the host, United States signed the Five-Power Treaty. The Five-Power Treaty restricted the member countries from having large armies. The members were not supposed to build battleships and aircrafts in the next ten years (Kuehn, 2011). The treaty never restricted these countries from building non-capital vessels. They were free to build submarines, cruisers, and destroyers. These countries also agreed on some diplomatic issues. They agreed to maintain the status quo in United States, France, Great Britain, Asia, and japan. They came to a conclusion that they were to settle disputes on themselves and to consult each other on external threats (Kuehn, 2011).
In the same year, 1922 the Nine-Power Treaty was formed. It comprises countries like France, Great Britain, japan, Italy, Belgium, china, Portugal, United States, and Netherlands. These countries were to venerate Chinese territorial integrity as well as support the Open Door Policy (Hughes, 200). The United States did not stop at that point, they came up with different attempts which did not succeed. In 1927, United States president Calvin Coolidge called together the members of the Five-Power Treaty. They assembled at Geneva and were to agree on limiting the construction of small ships. All the countries agreed except for Italy and France. Therefore, these power countries could not agree on these restrictions. In 1930, the London Naval Conference was held in Great Britain. Japan, United States, and Great Britain agreed and signed the agreement that restricted the number of submarines and cruisers they constructed (Hughes, 2003). The treaty also required them to do away with some of their battleships. The agreement did not limit the Japanese aggression that happened at Manchuria in 1923.
Disarmament has been of great importance to the world. It has promoted peace globally. The nature of wars and the weapons that were used in the early days changed a lot. People then used to have large armies and weapons. As a result, there was a lot of death cases since most of those who died before the 20th century were combats (Muggah, 2005). With the introduction of the Disarmament Policy, these weapons and soldiers were to be reduced. Genocides and severe conflicts declined since all the countries involved were almost at a similar level with almost the same number of soldiers and weapons. The treaties the superpowers signed limited them from manufacturing other weapons. Such an action promoted peace globally for countries feared each other since no one appeared to be on top of the other. Wars reduced dramatically.
Due to the rise of the production of weapons, there was a need for the United States to help in the control weapon manufacture. Therefore, on February 5, 2011, the Russia and United States signed the New START Treaty (Woolf, 2012). The treaty limits them from deploying strategic warheads. Each of them can only deploy heavy bombers, SLBM, and 700ICBMs (Gates, 2010). This treaty has made the United States reduce its weapon manufacture hugely. Right now, United States has the smallest stockpile of nuclear weapons since 1956 (Gates, 2010). So that United States shows that it is in support of disarmament, it is dismantled 10,251 nuclear overheads from FY between 1994 and 2014 (Gates, 2010). Under the New START Treaty, United States reduced its arsenal by 120 launchers and 263 warheads (Woolf, 20120. Its Airforce is also destroying empty ICBM silos (Gates, 2010). The US Navy has reportedly been reducing the number of missile tubes on the SSBNs. This is a clear indication that the United States is prioritizing the disarmament policy.
Other countries have also worked for hand in hand with the United States to realize this supreme goal of disarmament. Many members of the Diet and the Japanese government has been one of the countries in support of this. In December 2009, the then Japanese foreign minister, Okada, wrote a letter to Clinton, the state secretary. He outlined that they were impressed by their agendas in nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. He congratulated the United States for being a flag bearer in realizing a peaceful world. Katsuya Okada congratulated President Obama's idea for fighting for a nuclear weapon free world. Other members of the Diet also wrote a letter to president Obama wanting to support his agendas since most of them were affected by the bombings. In their letter, they also questioned Obama's effort wanting to know if he was doing this to prevent other nation from launching missiles into his state. They spotted this from the recommendations highlighted in the ICNND report and from Obama's speech that he presents in Prague in April 2009 (Muggah, 2005). They also noted that japan would not participate in disarmament if the United States would not include them in a policy. Therefore, the recommended that the US comes up with a policy that will not at any point violate the Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles.
The Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance is responsible for the disarmament policy (Ros...