Multilateral Export Control Regimes: a Legal Mechanism or Tool of Political Pressure? Gholamhossein Dehghani

Multilateral export control regimes are among major tools used by developed Western countries during the past six decades to maintain their technological supremacy under the pretext of preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These regimes have grown and developed unprecedentedly in both quantitative and qualitative terms especially in the past decade following 9/11 terrorist attacks. Opponents and proponents have offered various viewpoints on the legality or illegality of these regimes on the basis of the international law. This research first presents a theoretical framework for the assessment of those viewpoints. Since both opponents and proponents have emphasized on the relationship between these regimes and international nonproliferation regimes, their implications for availability of equipment and material related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons, missiles, and dual-use goods and material are briefly discussed. Finally, developments of these regimes in addition to viewpoints of proponents and opponents about legality and illegality of export control regimes are explained using a comparative study of commitments of states members of these regimes and their commitments under international nonproliferation treaties. The conclusion is that such export control regimes, which have been developed by their members to create monopoly on technical know-how and technology, are incompatible with commitments of member states under international law.