Books

By Colin Archer and Annette Willi, 2012

IPB wrote a Position Paper entitled Opportunity Costs: Military Spending and the UN’s Development Agenda. It makes the case that military spending should be taken into consideration in the debate now under way on the UN’s Post-2015 Development Agenda (following on from the Millennium Development Goals). In IPB’s view, militarization is a significant factor in the sustainable development equation, often undermining the security of citizens. At the same time, the massive resources devoted to the military sector could – if even a small portion were reallocated – make a major contribution to meeting the challenges of mass poverty, unemployment and climate change.

Ben Cramer, 2009, 150pp

Nuclear weapons not only threaten massive destruction, but they also incur enormous costs. Apart from the damage caused by blast, fire and radioactive fallout from actual use in warfare, the weapons impose major financial, moral and political costs on nuclear weapons states and countries that host the weapons. The US alone spends annually over US$ 50 billion on its nuclear arsenal, and the global annual total is around  $90 billion. At a time of global economic crisis, when the international community is also struggling to come up with ways to respond to climate challenge and dwindling energy resources, can this be the right use of public money? Nuclear Weapons: At What Cost? offers a survey of the costs of the nuclear weapons programmes of all the relevant states

Colin Archer, 2007, 74pp

Whose-Priorities sketches some approaches to campaigning in opposition to militarism, and offer summary accounts of 18 projects undertaken by civil society groups around the world.

This book is available in Arabic, Catalan, German and Spanish.

Colin Archer and David Hay-Edie, 2005, 96pp

Disarmament for Development in the 21th Century. A human security approach

Warfare or Welfare sets out information and arguments that form the basis of our DforD programme. The two main issues addressed are military spending and the effects of weapon systems on development.

Translations in French, German and Arabic are available on request

Caroline Guinard, 2002, Co-published by the IPB and Nonviolence International, 176pp

From War to Peace Summary is a practical handbook for peace negotiators, either governmental or non state actors, drawing on nine specific country studies of transitions from armed conflict to peace.

Read the summary of findings here.

Fredrik S. Heffermehl, 2000

Peace is Possible aims at showing, with personal stories and practical experience recounted by people like Nelson Mandela, his holiness the Dalai Lama, Jody Williams, Daniel Ellsberg, Howard Zinn, and unknown grassroots activists, that everyone can find their way to contribute, and that the peace movement makes a real difference in today’s world.