Small Arms Survey 2008
Risk and Resilience

The Small Arms Survey 2008 examines the problem of diversion and analyses the public health approach to armed violence.

Small Arms Survey, Geneva (Author)

9780521706551, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 July 2008

320 pages, 67 b/w illus. 4 maps 49 tables
24.6 x 19 x 2.1 cm, 0.89 kg

'The Small Arms Survey 2008: Risk and Resilience demonstrates the need to – and our ability to – reduce armed violence by focusing on preventive efforts rather than solely punitive measures. The evidence-based public health approach allows us to understand the risk of violence in a community, design targeted violence reduction interventions, and measure the effectiveness of these programmes in building safer communities.' Dr Vappu Taipale, Co-president, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), and former Finnish Minister of Health

The Small Arms Survey 2008 presents two thematic sections. The first examines the problem of diversion in all its aspects: stockpiles, surplus disposal, international transfers, and end-user documentation. It includes a case study on South Africa and a comic strip illustrating the potential ease by which someone with access to forged documentation can make arrangements to ship munitions virtually anywhere. The second thematic section analyses the public health approach to armed violence, scrutinizing risk and resilience factors and considering related interventions. It includes an overview of the burden of armed violence, and two case studies of armed violence in El Salvador and the United States. A chapter on light weapons production rounds out the volume.

Foreword Bernard Kouchner
1. Light weapons: products, producers, and proliferation
2. Arsenals adrift: arms and ammunition diversion
3. A semi-automatic process? Identifying and destroying military surplus
4. Deadly deception: arms transfer diversion
5. Who's buying? End-user certification
6. The meaning of loss: firearms diversion in South Africa
Comic strip. Adventures of a would-be arms dealer
7. Reducing armed violence: the public health approach
8. Risk and resilience: understanding the potential for violence
9. Targeting armed violence: public health interventions.

Subject Areas: Human rights & civil liberties law [LNDC], Economics, finance, business & management [K], International relations [JPS], Political science & theory [JPA], Police & security services [JKSW1], Sociology [JHB], Peace studies & conflict resolution [GTJ], Development studies [GTF]