Demand

Though a demand perspective has come to be recognized as important by progressive disarmament diplomats and practitioners, multilateral deliberations on small arms control have nevertheless remained nested in supply-side terms. A complementary demand perspective has, until recently, not figured prominently in international debates on the control of small arms and light weapons. Though the issue of demand was raised on occasions in multilateral forums during the 1990s, it remained an unknown quantity in disarmament circles.

While an awareness of the demand perspective may only now be emerging in international small arms control debates, demand-reduction initiatives have been taking place on the ground for some time. Small arms control from a demand perspective - understood and acted upon in a broad range of activities by municipal and state-level governments, non-governmental agencies, and community-based organizations - focuses on the motivations for and means of weapons acquisition as necessary components of successful small arms action.

The Small Arms Survey has developed a conceptual approach to understanding demand on the ground. Moreover, the Survey has tested this approach in a number of countries, including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, and other countries. There are also a host of practical approaches to demand reduction that have emerged in recent years, supported by, among others, the UNDP.

Demand Theory

A theoretical approach to understanding demand factors has been developed and is presented here. This approach to understanding the motivations and means for weapons acquisition focuses on individual and group preferences for weapons, the monetary and non-monetary resources required to obtain them, and real and relative prices of firearms. All three clusters of factors are interactive, and it is important to evaluate them jointly to appreciate how demand is manifested.

This demand model reveals that specific policy interventions, if uninformed by an understanding of all three factors, can generate counterproductive results. For example, monetary and non-monetary incentive schemes designed to provide alternatives to illegal users in return for their firearms may, in fact, increase the resources available for the acquisition of new weapons. Where preferences - such as the attraction and status associated with arms - are not adequately considered, demand reduction efforts are counterproductive or short-lived. The model also suggests that policy choices may be enriched by examining why some individuals and groups ultimately choose not to acquire small arms.

Practical Demand Reduction

Part and parcel of reducing arms availability and misuse is a focus on the motivations and means of why people - particularly young males - acquire, carry, and use them to begin with. Public health and development practitioners, among others, are beginning to acknowledge the importance of adopting a comprehensive approach to armed violence reduction that includes specific measures to tackle the demand for arms at both the individual and community level. At a minimum, specialists stress the importance of baseline data and focused approaches to measuring people's preferences. They also emphasise the value of adopting a community-centred approach to violence mitigation. Finally, they highlight the value of incentives to promote disarmament and violence reduction - a subject discussed in the DDR and SALW Control section.