| Summary: | This thesis examines the development and deployment of ballistic missiles and
Theater Missile Defense (TMD) systems in Northeast Asia. It argues that the current arms
dynamic in Northeast Asia constitutes a new type of arms competition, which has
significant implications for regional security and for the study of arms races.
This thesis makes clear that the highly sophisticated anti-missile systems currently
under development will eventually be deployed in Northeast Asia. Such deployments will
increase political and military tensions in the region. Moreover, the introduction of TMD
systems is likely to spark the development and deployment of more missiles, along with
counter-measures and multiple warheads, potentially transforming the regional arms
competition into an arms race.
This thesis also argues that the current literature on arms races cannot fully grasp the
situation in Northeast Asia. Ballistic missiles have undoubtedly been the most destabilizing
weapons deployed in Northeast Asia in the 1990s. However, measuring arms competition
solely in terms of military expenditure does not capture the importance of these
destabilizing weapons. Moreover, the literature on arms races, which has traditionally
defined arms competitions as an offensive-versus-offensive dynamic, is blind to the current
defensive dimension of the Northeast Asian arms competition. === Arts, Faculty of === Political Science, Department of === Graduate
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