This Master's thesis addresses the effectiveness of the international regime for arms trade of conventional weapons. It analyses how effective the arms trade regime is in addressing the problem of trading arms and simultaneously ensuring that this trade does not destabilise international peace and security. States see arms as strategic assets that provide power, which is why they have an interest in selling arms to strengthen their economic power and buying arms to enhance their military power. At the same time, arms can be used to violate human rights, prolong conflicts, destabilise regions and enable terrorism and organised crime. Based on regime theories, the Master's thesis defines the principles, norms, rules and decision-making processes of the arms trade international regime, thereby defining the structure of the regime. These elements of the arms trade regime then serve for the analysis of the effectiveness of the regime by setting two reference points and applying the phased analysis of outputs, outcomes and impacts. The analysis shows that the regime is important but still imperfect and that it has a low-to-medium impact in preventing the destabilisation of peace and security. At the same time, the analysis of Slovenia as a state that isn’t a hegemon and which acts in almost complete compliance with the regime, shows that higher global compliance and effectiveness of the regime would be possible within the existing normative framework if there were greater political will. The Master's thesis thus shows the limitations of the international regime in achieving greater effectiveness and the gaps which, if addressed, would increase both the effectiveness and compliance with the regime.
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