de Waal, Alex
Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at Tufts University. During 2009-11 he served as senior advisor to the African Union High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and Program Director at the Social Science Research Council. His academic research has focused on issues of famine, conflict and human rights in Africa including. He was awarded an OBE in the UK New Year's Honors List of 2009, was on the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of 100 public intellectuals in 2008, and the Atlantic Monthly list of 27 'brave thinkers' in 2009.Lumpe, Laura
Lora Lumpe founded the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington DC in 1991 where she directed its research and advocacy programme until she became director of research at the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers at the Peace Research Institute (PRIO), Oslo, in 1998. In addition to publishing numerous book chapters, magazine articles and op-eds, she edited the quarterly newsletter, Arms Sales Monitor. She coauthored Arms Trade Revealed: A Guide for Investigators and Activists (1998) and is the editor of other recent books on disarmament topics.

An essential handbook for all those seeking to debunk the myths that underpin the global arms trade.

Brings together a range of distinguished experts and activists, including Andrew Feinstein (author of the best-selling After the Party and director of Corruption Watch UK).

Indefensible: Setting the Scene
Introduction
Section 1: There Is No Problem

Myth 1: Higher Defense Spending Equals Increased Security
Myth 2: Military Spending Is Driven by Security Concerns
Myth 3: We Can Control Where Weapons End Up and How They Are Used
Myth 4: The Defense Industry Is a Key Contributor to National Economies
Myth 5: Corruption in the Arms Trade Is Only a Problem in Developing Countries
Myth 6: National Security Requires Blanket Secrecy
Section 2: The Arms Trade Can't Be Beaten

Myth 7: Now Is Not the Time
Conclusion: Change Is Possible

Although there is often opposition to individual wars, most people continue to believe that the arms industry is necessary in some form: to safeguard our security, provide jobs and stimulate the economy. Not only conservatives, but many progressives and liberals, support it for these reasons.

Indefensible puts forward a devastating challenge to this conventional wisdom, which has normalised the existence of the most savage weapons of mass destruction ever known. It is the essential handbook for those who want to debunk the arguments of the industry and its supporters: deploying case studies, statistics and irrefutable evidence to demonstrate they are fundamentally flawed, both factually and logically.

Far from protecting us, the book shows how the arms trade undermines our security by fanning the flames of war, terrorism and global instability. In countering these myths, the book points to ways in which we can combat the arms trade's malignant influence, reclaim our democracies and reshape our economies.