The democratic arms export

Abstract: Arms export research has largely focused on the behaviour of superpowers or major powers, while arms export behaviour of small democracies has received little attention. By using a quantitative method, this paper explored whether democracy had any impact on the arms export behaviour of small democracies. The argument was that a good international social reputation, as responsible global actors, would cause indirect pressure on small democratic states to follow democratic norms, and therefore make them avoid arms export to autocracies. The findings did not support the argument of democratic norms to have a negative relation to arms export to autocratic regimes. Additionally, the findings indicate that economic wealth is positively correlated to arms export to autocratic regimes.