Key drivers of the arms trade

Abstract

Andrew T H Tan (PhD, Sydney; M. Phil, Cambridge) is Professor, Department of Security Studies and Criminology, Macquarie University. Born in Singapore of mixed heritage, he served in the Singapore Armed Forces and Foreign Service, and also worked in the private sector as a corporate executive, and as a director of training to various multinational corporations. After completing his PhD, he was recruited by S R Nathan (later President of Singapore) to work at a security studies institute in Singapore as an Assistant Professor, where he specialised in counter-terrorism and regional security. He then joined King's College London in the UK as Senior Lecturer and was based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Watchfield/Srivenham, where he trained senior military commanders from the UK, United States, NATO and the rest of the world. Many of his students served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was then recruited by University of New South Wales where he became Associate Professor and Convenor of International Studies, and then Convenor of Development Studies and International Relations. Andrew was educated in Singapore, the UK, Japan (at Sophia University, Tokyo, where he was an exchange student), and Australia, and holds degrees from the National University of Singapore, the University of Cambridge and Sydney University. He has held numerous university awards and scholarships, including the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust scholarship. Andrew specialises in defence studies, terrorism, insurgencies, international security, and Asian security and international relations. Over the years, he has been consulted by governments, think tanks and academic institutions on security issues. He is also the author, co-author or editor of 23 books and over 70 journal and book chapter articles. In 2021, he was the lead in the research report on Military Modernization in the Indo-Pacific that was supported by a grant from the Australian Department of Defence. Amongst his books are: US Strategy Against Global Terrorism (New York: Palgrave), Security Strategies in the AsiaPacific: The USA's Second front in Southeast Asia (New York: Palgrave), The Global Arms Trade (London: Routledge), East and Southeast Asia: Security Perspectives and International Relations (London: Routledge), Conflict in East Asia (London: Routledge), The Arms Race in Asia (London: Routledge), US-China Relations (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar) and The United States and Asia (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar). His latest books are: an edited volume with some of the world's leading arms trade experts, entitled The Arms Trade (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2020), The Future of the US-Australia Alliance (London: Routledge, 2021; co-edited with LtColonel Scott McDonald, US Marine Corps) and China's Foreign Policy: The Rise of a Great Power (London: Routledge, 2022; co-authored with Andrea Benvenuti, C. P. Chung and Nicholas Khoo). In 2013, Andrew was Chair of Global Security Asia, Asia's largest homeland security conference. He is the cocommissioning editor of Edward Elgar's New Horizons in East Asian Politics series. Research interests