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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 10/05
Small Arms and Light Weapons Production in Eastern, Central, and Southeast Europe
Yudit Kiss
October, 2004
Abstract
With the accession of ten states to the European Union (EU) in May 2004, Eastern Europe strode firmly into the international spotlight. A few months earlier, Bulgaria and Romania had joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), further extending the membership of Eastern, Central, and Southeast Europe in the alliance. These developments support the region's ongoing policy of integration into the West and its emergence as a socio-political landscape entirely distinct from that imposed by the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) until its demise in 1991. Not surprisingly, these drastic changes are vividly reflected in the national defence industries of the region.
The region's defence industry was a large-scale supplier of small arms and light weapons during the 20th century, and specifically during the WTO's period of influence from 1955 to 1991. In addition to serving the needs of its member countries, the organization allotted small arms and light weapons to a wide range of non-aligned or so-called socialist-oriented countries that sought to solidify their position in the cold war divide.
