The Role The Illicit International Arms Trade Had In Revolutionising Insurgency Groups.

Abstract

Revolutionary groups and their use of arms are inexplicably linked. Groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were financed, supplied and armed through a constantly evolving international arms trafficking network. This thesis does not seek to provide a comprehensive history of the illicit arms trade, but to provide an analysis of the interactions of these revolutionary groups with the global illicit arms trade network. This paper will analyse the inherent geopolitical factors in how revolutionary groups exploited the illicit arms trade to revolutionise their operations to become a direct threat to state governments, and global threats. For the purposes of this analysis, the factors that this piece will look at are how these groups interact with the illicit arms trade but also underlying geopolitical influences.

The major conclusions drawn from this thesis will be that the illicit arms trade during the latter 20th century was emblematic of the global international environment. Nationalist and political struggles, which produced insurgency movements alongside the role of the superpowers, were all key players in the illicit arms trade. Insurgency groups exploited the illicit global arms to revolutionise their operations to challenge national governments and, also, to present a global threat. Furthermore, the illicit arms trade network was shaped by the superpowers at the height of the Cold War, and it could be argued that these domestic conflicts were small parts, or a microcosm of the larger global ideological battle taking place, at least in the eyes of the superpowers.