The successful negotiation of arms control agreements generally requires each participant’s implementation of, and compliance with, the terms of the agreement. Various types of monitoring are often directly codified within the agreement; for example, a number of past and present agreements include monitoring regimes featuring carefully regulated, both in terms of number and format, on-site inspections of sites such as military bases hosting capabilities regulated by the accord. Treaty texts often also include language permitting or condoning the use of other technical means to gather information germane to assessments by participating states of whether other state parties are abiding by the limits, prohibitions, or other key tenets of the agreement.
Monitoring is central to the implementation of arms control agreements, but the practices and processes of observing, collecting, and recording information relevant to state party compliance with an agreement’s central limits or prohibitions are sometimes overlooked. This chapter will introduce the mechanics of arms control monitoring while also contextualizing their importance to state party determinations regarding whether other participants are complying with the key provisions of an accord.
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