The investigation starts from the observation that, in the field of arms control, failure seems to be the rule and points out that this may be due to an empirically observable close relationship between long-term military and economic growth. Possible causal relationships between those two kinds of growth are discussed and a causal hypothesis is suggested that explains long-term military growth in terms of a social-psychological push effect (the Veblen effect) in combination with an economic restraint effect. On that theoretical basis, two approaches to arms control are proposed — namely, arms control through manipulation of the Veblen effect and arms control through limits to economic growth. These two methods approach arms control from a global perspective, which transcends the perspectives of both intra-national antimilitarism and inter-national arms control diplomacy.
