Arms Race

The traditional notion of an “arms race” has no widely agreed upon definition, but is used in international relations to refer to a competition between two or more states in the development and production of military arms.

This is generally understood to take the form of one-upmanship in which each side seeks an incremental gain over the others in terms of either technical superiority (quality) and/or number (quantity) of weapons over their competitors. The sought-after advantage in military superiority can be an overall strategic advantage, or a tactical advantage in an area with strategic significance.

The consequences of an arms race are generally viewed as negative insofar as it is at best expensive and self-defeating, and at worst destabilizing, counter-productive, or even catastrophic.

But there remains some debate as to whether arms races are the consequence of geo-political instability or a cause of it. It could be argued that both views are correct insofar as both are involved in a positive feedback loop, or vicious cycle, of increasing instability and increasing arms investments, which serve to drive each other.

Asaro P (2019) What is an Artificial Intelligence arms race anyway? I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 15(1–2):45–64, p. 47

Samuel P. Huntington, Arms Races: Prerequisites and Results, PUBLIC POLICY, vol. 8 (1958) pp. 41-86.