This book analyses the structure and motive forces that shape the global arms transfer and production system. The author distinguishes three tiers of arms producers, defined by such factors as defence production base, military research and development capabilities, and dependence upon arms exports. These factors interact with underlying political, economic, and military motivations to drive states to produce and export arms, and provide the force which directs the international trade in arms. The author discusses the United States and the Soviet Union, the European arms suppliers, and the emerging arms producers of the developing world. Although it concentrates on the contemporary period, the book covers a wide historical span, from the development of military technologies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to twentieth-century revolutions in weaponry. By focusing on the processes of technological innovation and diffusion, the author shows the evolutionary nature of the spread of military technologies, and situates the current arms transfer system in a broad historical context.