IAn Overview of International Law Achievements in the Field of Ballistic Missiles Control: Interaction among the Superpowers, an Everlasting Solution

The use of ballistic missiles remains a controversial issue in international disarmament law. Although many States are producing and exporting such weapons, others, along with the international organisations, claim these weapons to be illegitimate. However, the international law and regulations governing the use of ballistic missiles generally do not appear to have binding force. In fact, there are various soft law international multilateral instruments accompanied by a few bilateral agreements. Although the Security Council resolutions have provided some binding force in this regard, they have not yet yielded the expected results regarding disarmament or non-proliferation of ballistic missiles. Therefore it is essential to clarify this issue from an international law perspective. This article conducts qualitative research to describe ballistic missiles and to analyse the significant international law instruments in this regard. Hence, a conceptology, the Security Council resolutions, the international multilateral arrangements, and the exemplary bilateral agreements are briefly discussed after an introduction. It concludes that these instruments are significant in non-proliferation diplomacy and the progressive development of international law in this field. Particularly the bilateral agreements concluded between Russia and the USA illustrate exemplary patterns in this field and future international efforts in disarmament and arms control negotiations.