Regional Security Initiatives and Intrastate Peace and Stability: Appraising the Economic Community of West Africa's Convention on Non Proliferation of Small Arms

This thesis examines the proliferation of small arms within the West African corridor. Despite a number of the few initiatives to limit small arms proliferation, the ECOWAS region is still awash with small arms. This research tests the hypothesis that the ECOWAS Convention may not be effective in preventing illicit weapon flow in the region. This hypothesis is based on the following premises: that effective nonproliferation regime should (a) have the political will and support at the state, and at the regional level; that (b) small arms trade is a multifaceted global problem, as such, a global cooperation with nonproliferation regimes is also vital for the success of such regimes.