Brazilian Arms Production: Partial Dependence
Abstract
The emergence of such new arms producers into the world market as Brazil, Israel, South Korea, and the People's Republic of China has led to a resurgence of political and economic writings on arms trade. Numerous papers have been published that hypothesize the motives for establishing indigenous production and possible outcomes that may ensue. According to this arms trade literature, some of these motives include: 1) necessity, in the case of pariah states as South Africa; 2) national prestige or regional dominance; 3) the role defense industrialization is expected to take in overall industrial modernization; 4) the desire to lessen dependency on superpowers or more traditional arms suppliers; 5) the need to develop defense equipment that better suits the operational requirements of third world environs; and, of course, 6) to make profits. Similarly, scholars have postulated myriad outcomes that might result from the emergence of new suppliers such as: a growth in regional instabilities; reduced readiness for actual conflict because of the acquisition of less advanced, but indigenously produced equipment; and polarization of wealth or actual setbacks in economic development within countries that have elected to acquire inappropriate levels of technology. This paper addresses the applicability of some of the above motives to the case of the Brazilian arms industry.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA216958
Entities
People
- Rachel Schmidt
Organizations
- RAND Corporation