Instruments of security or tools of repression? Arms imports and human rights conditions in developing countries

Scholars traditionally have focused on arms as a means of deterring, initia ting, maintaining, or terminating international war. Indeed, based on the a ssumption that a coercive military response is required if security is to b e preserved, arms are widely viewed as an instrument of defense from extern al threat. In the developing world, however, internal threats are far more common. Yet the role of arms in facilitating domestic political violence ha s received far less scholarly attention. This article endeavors to expand u pon both our understanding of arms as a source of conflict and our knowledg e of the correlates of human rights repression. To this end, this study tes ts the relationship between the importation of arms and the repression of p ersonal integrity rights. Employing a pooled rime-series cross-sectional de sign, the patterns of arms acquisitions behavior and human rights violation s are examined for developing countries for the years 1982 through 1992. Th e results indicate that arms imports by developing countries are linked to poor human rights conditions. Thus, arms acquisitions appear to contribute to repression by making violent political acts more feasible.