Research on arms control rarely reflects critically upon the framings underlying arms transfer control policies and practices. Most literature on recent international arms transfer control agreements, including the Arms Trade Treaty, was written by their proponents who do not generally question the emancipatory nature of such agreements.

Grounded on archival and literature research as well as sixteen years of ethnographic observation in the “industry,” the book critically analyses the ideas and assumptions underpinning arms transfer control policies and practices from the nineteenth century to the present.

Giving particular salience to the gradual change in the conception of the self and sovereignty that lies behind the policies and practices of arms transfer control, the book unveils the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in which specific policies and measures have been legitimised or challenged, and explains why the Arms Trade Treaty was destined to face difficulties after its adoption.

As the first comprehensive book written in Japanese on the Arms Trade Treaty, it also contains a detailed analysis of the treaty’s text in addition to rich data collected from the negotiations and Conferences of States Parties of the treaty, and thus is a must-read for any Japanese-speaking reader who is interested in the treaty.