What are the major barriers to arms control?

The barriers to arms control are numerous, complex and varied; consequently, I will
focus on just a few.
Lack of trust between nations is perhaps the greatest barrier to arms control. Nations
inherently distrust each other and have armed forces for this reason. If you do not
believe your enemy will adhere to arms control measures, then it is unsurprising that
arms control measures are unlikely to work. When looking at the Cold War and the
pathological fear harboured by both sides, it resulted in an arms race that arms control
was ineffective in countering.
Culture, ideology and history prevented, and continues to prevent nations giving many
concessions as it could be perceived as weakness. The thought of a nation backing
down from an enemy is vehemently opposed; this was especially true between
diametric enemies during the Cold War. Neither side wanted to flinch; indeed the entire
nuclear strategy relied on the perception of strength over ones enemy. This was
manifested in each side having the ability and will to conduct a first or second strike with
overpowering force. Arms control would have limited this significantly.
Continued national security is vital for arms control measures to remain in effect. One of the
easiest ways to fuel an arms race is instability within a country fuelled by external
aggression. All arms control treaties between East and West assumed that there was
government control of the military, which had to be absolute. With the end of the Cold War
several ex-USSR states end up as de-facto nuclear states due to USSR missiles on their
soil. With newly independent, unstable and fledgling governments the risk of intended or
accidental use of nuclear weapons was a very real danger until the Lisbon Protocol came
into force. Arms control treaties would not be enforceable against these new states.

The changing nature of warfare and conflict has made current treaties obsolete or at
least difficult to adhere to. Rarely do treaties address the issues associated with
economic, socio-political and increasingly cultural matters within nations. Lack of joinedup thinking that encompasses all of these facets results in treaties that have limited
relevance to signatories.
in order for arms control policies to deal successfully with sub-state actors and
post conflict situations they must be embedded within, or linked to, a broader
range of social, political, cultural and economic policies than was the case in their
original formulation
The relative ineffectiveness of treaties is a substantial barrier to arms control that allows
the breaking of treaties with relative impunity, such as India and Pakistan nuclear
weapon testing. If the USA, UK or Russia was to disregard treaties they are likely to
experience a political backlash, but with little real world implications. Signatories to
treaties are not always legally required to abide by them as they are not enshrined in
international law, such as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This is signed by
196 countries and ratified by 164. There are 8 mandatory signatories still required to
ratify the CTBT before it can become law; without these 8 last ratifications the treaty is
non-enforceable. This is a major barrier to arms control.

[i] Krause, K., A Future Arms Control Agenda (Proceedings of Nobel Symposium 118,

1999) p. 129