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Published byCarmel Imogen Mosley Modified over 9 years ago
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Guns Versus Growth: The Trade-off Between Military Spending and Economic Development By Annette Hollowell
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“World leaders must stop viewing militaristic investment as a measure of national wellbeing. And they must embrace multilateral efforts that recognize the complete and politicized nature of contemporary security questions. By maintaining a massive military-industrial complex, the U.S. sends the wrong signal to other countries whose national budgets desperately need to be directed toward human needs…” --Ocsar Arias, the 1987 Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Costa Rica
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Military Spending and Economic Development Military spending has increased most where the people are poorest, the Global South. This preparation for war through a high military burden comes at a cost, because many economists conclude that when states spend high sums for weapons they have less money available to spend on human security. Hence the Guns vs. Growth Issue
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“Since the dawn of the nuclear age, the government (United States) has spent more than $5.5 trillion on nuclear forces, more than on education, the environment and transportation combined….” ---Stansfield Turner, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
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The Cold War Japan of the 1950s was relatively freed of the burden of funding militarization, and was able to greatly expand its economy. This position was opposite of the former Soviet Union and the United States.
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The Great Powers’ National Security Strategies Russia, China, and Japan
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Putin’s “Concept of National Security” In light of its decline, Russia has had to refocus its national security strategies to its grim realities. Fundamental military reforms More adept fighting forces to manage civil rebellions Continuing to dismantle nuclear arsenal with U.S. assistance Repealing the no first use pledge
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China’s Security Posture Lobby to see that the traditional international legal rule prohibiting external interference in sovereign state’s domestic affairs is respected Expand sphere of influence in the Pacific Rim to gain the respect of its Asian neighbors To recover its lost suzerainty Pursue membership in the WTO (which it achieved in December 2001 Establish normalized diplomatic relations with the U.S.
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Japan’s Search for a Strategy As an economic superpower Japan has advocated the Yoshida Doctrine PM Miyazawa’s Peacekeeping Operations Bill Acceptance of large increase in its previous UN dues Push for inclusion as permanent member of the UN Security Council Rise to the top of the world’s foreign aid donors
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Conclusion Given the fact that our individual security and well-being will depend to an ever-increasing extent on the world’s success in mastering complex political, economic, and environmental problems, we must redefine “security” to embrace all of those efforts taken to enhance the long-term health and welfare of the human family. Defense against military aggression will obviously remain a vital component of security, but it must be joined by defenses against severe environmental degradation, worldwide economic crisis, and massive human suffering.
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Where on the World Wide Web SIPRI Military Expenditure Country Graphs http://sipri.se/projects/M ilex/Introduction.html http://sipri.se/projects/M ilex/Introduction.html International Code of Conduct on Arms transfers http://www.basicint.org/co deindx.htm National Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament http://www.webcom.com/n cecd Military Spending Clock http://www.cdi.org/sc/javac lock.html
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