Moral Debate on the Arms Race and its Economic Implications

The relation between moral judgements, policy decisions and economic implications is a challenging subject for analysis, especially when the isues are the arms race and war‐fighting capabilities. How to translate moral judgements into policy decisions with their economic consequences is a complex and troublesome question because of the enormous stakes for national and worldwide survival. The problem confronting us is clearly illustrated by the US Catholic bishops' pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace, May 1983, which addressed the moral dimension of the nuclear arms race and warfare without coming to grips adequately with the issues of policy decisions and economy which their moral conclusions raised. Their later pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the US Economy, November 1986, compounded their failure by omitting to confront directly the economic implications of translating their moral conclusions into practical policies. The economic side of the arms race is a concern which must be recognised and addressed if policy decisions are to be made effective. The harshest critics of The Challenge of Peace have noted this failure realistically to confront policy decisions in terms of geopolitical, strategic and economic consequences.