Disarmament, Peace and Development

Excessivemilitary spendingreduces the available financial reserves for health,education, and other human needs. For poor countries, it increases poverty,unemployment, and destitution.It also strengthens dictatorial tendenciesin politics and acts against democratic values. If we want to achieve peace,eliminate poverty, decrease inequality, and achieve social justice, we shoulddevote all our energies to reducing military spending and using the releasedresources for economic development. For that, we need a concerted effort toencourage disarmament.This newvolume provides reflections and insights fromleading public figures and activists who oppose military expenditure in anyform. Many of the contributions to this volume were presented as speeches atthe 'Disarm!For a Climate of Peace' meetingheld in Berlin in 2016, organized by the International Peace Bureau. The volume also includes additional research-oriented chapters to complement the transcriptsfrom the International Peace Bureau meeting.