Examines the issue of arms sales to the Middle East. Sets forth and analyzes several options under which the major supplier countries could band together to limit their sales of conventional weapons to that volatile and highly militarized region. Appendices: measuring the global arms trade; and calculating weapons balances in the Middle East. Charts and tables.

Is the arms trade totally uncontrolled? What are the main obstacles to limitations on arms transfers? What can be learned from past attempts at arms transfer control? This book, which completes SIPRI's trilogy on the facts and implications of Third World build-up of major conventional weapons, assesses past efforts, current proposals and future possibilities to limit the transfer of weapons and military technology to Third World countries. It is a companion to the two SIPRI volumes, Arms Production in the Third World (1986) and Arms Transfers to the Third World 1971-85 (OUP, 1987)

The United States is the single largest arms supplier to the Middle East and has been for decades. The Trump administration appears poised to increase exports to this region further. In March 2017 President Trump reversed the Obama administration's policy of tying exports to some partners to progress on human rights.

This book provides a unique and comprehensive commentary on the Arms Trade Treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, with several contributors having direct involvement in the negotation of the Treaty.