Arms Control Negotiations in the Middle East: The Issue of Sequencing

This article takes stock of the ongoing negotiations on arms control and regional security in the context of the multilateral peace talks on the Middle East. It examines the background conditions that made these negotiations possible and the problem of designing the right sequence within which different issues are addressed. The author reviews the role of confidence‐building measures in the early stages of arms control negotiations. Next, it is explored why certain sequences may help the current partners to the negotiations in two ways. First, they may induce those countries that have not yet joined the multilateral negotiations to do so. Second, agreeing on the right sequence may secure domestic support for arms control and the peace process as a whole