they need a fuller npbilization of aII their internal resources, it would be almostsinplistic to conclude that a civilian reallocatlon of thelr military outlays will be adequate. Accounting for less that 16 per cent of the global financlal outlaysfor nilitary purposes, the L20 non--oll aleveloping countrles coUectively do not account for llrcre than 5 per cent of the norldrs milltary production and a negliglble fractlon of th€ worldrs total nilitary R and D. It is in thelr one-third share on the demand-side of the global trade in arms that the non-oil developing countries figure conspicuously, another similar share going to theoil?roducing ones. l,tost of it is highly concentrated in some confllct-ridden regions and national variations within the regions range frorn less than I to over 15 per cent of their entire inports. 101, Besides opening a constant leak in their foreign exchange reserves whichr inprinciple, lrould be otherwlse avaitable to lrnport capital and technology, the arns imports' conpl icate ttle socio-political environnent of the developing countries. Dependlng upon the terns of transfer and the supportive equipment and servicesentailed, arms imports have denonstrably made most of thelr recipients extremely vuLherable to their external environnent. Polltical threat perceptions external to the recipient countriesr social structures, dependency patterns millcatlng against the nationalistic urge for self-reliance, and technological choices marginally relevant to the predcminantly agricultural econornies constitute some of the costsof arrns i|IE)orts which cannot be easily docunented or reduced to statistics. As a broad indication, however, it is possible to point eo the conslant frictions in suppl ier-recipien t relations bec'.,ming a factor in the domestic politics of eitheror both. I02. !,tore pertinent stiLl is the findinc of several recent studies that poLitical structures heavily dependent ulron weapons inports have proved generalfy rprebrittle than those whose internal tensions are confined to the problens of gronth
**Analysis**
The text discusses the economic and political implications of arms imports on developing countries. It highlights the significant share of arms imports in their foreign exchange reserves, the dependency on external resources, and the vulnerability to external threats. The text also touches on the socio-political environment of these countries and the potential consequences of arms imports on their domestic politics.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade