A Reflection on War against Rogue States

Abstract

States have been pronounced rogue to international consensus by allegedly aiming to attain capabilities and delivery means of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Such activity, without pronounced intent, is invoking terror for the sake of terror. America has declared the Bush Doctrine for the unilateral use of armed force, war, to preempt the use of this WMD capability - offense being the best form of defense - following a failure of nuclear deterrence and of local defenses. This transformation of American foreign policy is the first disarmament case study of its kind for unilateral war as a continuation of arms control policy differing from the bipolar international agreements of the Cold War. The article further projects the need for a 'Global Convention on Proliferation' to provoke the community of nations to a multipolar approach of self-regulatory arms control and disarmament. The strength and viability of such a global convention will rest on the hegemonic power's willingness and ability to pursue unilateral preemptive armed force against rogue states. This will function as a new deterrent - in the long term negating the need for further preemptive wars.