Militarization of the economy: concept, examples

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Protection from external enemies is one of the main functions of a modern state. For these purposes, a military budget is being created, which makes it possible to maintain the army, modernize it, and conduct military exercises. But the threat to peaceful existence comes when the militarization of the economy begins. The result is an increase in the size of the army, military equipment. The threat is that any provocation - and the state can use its military potential. What is militarization? This will be discussed in this article.

What is the militarization of the economy

Militarization is the process of increasing the military sector in a country's total output. As a rule, this happens to the detriment of other areas. This is a kind of "military" economy. Here is an example from history.

Militarization of Europe at the turn of the century

In the late XIX - early XX centuries, there was a militarization of the German economy. Of course, the German Kaiser was not the only one who armed his country, almost everyone did this. European countries, including Russia.

The unification of Germany, the Franco-Prussian War and, as a result, huge indemnities and the annexation of two industrial regions (Alsace and Lorraine) to Germany made it possible to concentrate huge fortunes in the hands of German bankers. The industrial tycoons faced two challenges:

1. Lack of markets for their products, because Germany joined the colonial section later than others.
2. Absence of agricultural sector due to lack of agricultural land.

These reasons influenced the mood of the German financial magnates. They wanted:

1. Market your products.
2. Have agricultural land.
3. Strengthen your position within the state.

The only way out is the militarization of the economy. This solved all the problems at once:

1. The state purchases industrial products, which consist mainly of ammunition, weapons, guns, ships.
2. A combat-ready army is being created that is capable of changing the colonial division of the world, capturing markets, agricultural land in the east.

It all ended with the First World War. The second attempt to militarize the German economy when Hitler came to power led to World War II. The third attempt to build up armaments of the USSR and the USA almost led to a nuclear war that would have destroyed our planet.

Threats of modern times

The militarization of the economy is not a thing of the past. Today we are seeing thatmany countries are actively arming themselves. These are mainly the USA, China, India, Pakistan, Russia, the Arab countries of the East, Southeast Asia. North Korea has a huge army of a million people.

Is Russia a threat to the world?

Sadly it sounds, but it is our country that overtakes all the major countries of the world in the militarization of the economy. The share of the military budget is 5.4% of our country's GDP. For example, China spends about 2%, the US - just over 3%, India - just over 2%. Huge funds go to Saudi Arabia - 13.7% of GDP. The leader is the DPRK - more than 15%.

Despite the fact that Russia has such a seemingly huge share of the military budget of GDP, it is not worth falling into hysteria and shouting that our country poses a threat to the world. Everything needs to be carefully analyzed.

The fact is that in terms of money the military budget of our country is not so huge. It is approximately 66 billion dollars. For example, the US military budget is almost 10 times larger - about $600 billion. China - more than 200 billion. Thus, in monetary terms, we are not among the leaders. There are several reasons for the high share of the military budget:

1. Weak economy.
2. Huge territories.
3. Lack of ten years of army development.

The last point, according to President Vladimir Putin, is the key one. Our country after the collapse of the USSR and until the early 2000s. gg. almost lost the army. The military campaign in Chechnya is indicative in this respect. Lack of modern weapons, professional military,the latest aircraft and helicopters, let's add here the unprofessionalism of the generals, the lack of military exercises - everything led to huge losses in the Chechen Republic.

That is why Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that today's militarization of the economy is catching up on lost time for modernization.

Conclusions

So let's summarize. The militarization of the economy is a significant increase in the share of the military budget as a percentage of GDP. This is important to understand. An increase in the military budget, provided that the economy as a whole is growing, does not yet speak of militarization. Conversely, if the military budget decreases in real terms, but its percentage of GDP grows, then such an economy can be called a militarized one.

It is a mistake to believe that militarization is synonymous with aggressiveness. The build-up of military potential, on the contrary, may be the result of hostility on the part of other states. For example, the growth of the army in South Korea is associated with aggressive threats coming from the DPRK. Militarization in Russia is not at all connected with the desire to unleash a war in the future, but with a ten-year absence of modernization of our army.