Yves Schmitz

Dissertation

My dissertation examines the issue of illegal arms trading in imperial frontier regions, with a decentralised focus on actors and processes in the imperial periphery. Of greatest interest are the effects of the illegal arms trade on the construction of imperial statehood in the peripheral border region, the role of the illegal arms dealers in this expansion process, the cultural role of the trade as well as the foreign policies that were developed in this context. The subject of the analysis is two border regions in the second half of the 19th century, one in southern Africa, one in North America, which are systematically compared with each other. My analysis shows that illegal arms trade represented both a stabilizing and a destabilizing element for imperial state-building in the border region, depending on the interests and actions of the actors involved. Illegal arms traders had their own agenda vis-à-vis both state and indigenous actors, they wanted to gain an advantage over competitors or saw economic and strategic advantages in the "open" border region. In terms of foreign policy, illegal arms trade was treated differently depending on the actor and the situation, due to economic and security issues.