The militarization of the economy: concept, examples

Protection from external enemies is one of the main functions of the modern state. For these purposes, a military budget is being created that allows you to maintain an 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 and 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 the country's total output. As a rule, this happens to the detriment of other areas. This is a kind of “militarized” economy. We give an example from history.

The militarization of Europe at the turn of the century

In the late XIX - early XX centuries, the militarization of the German economy was observed . Of course, the German Kaiser was not the only one who armed his country, almost all the countries of Europe, including Russia, were engaged in this.

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

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

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

1. Sell ​​your products.
2. Have agricultural land.
3. Strengthen its position within the state.

The only way out is to militarize the economy. This solved all the tasks at once:

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

All this ended with the First World War. The second attempt to militarize the German economy when Hitler came to power led to the Second World War. The third attempt to build up the armaments of the USSR and the USA nearly led to a nuclear war that would destroy our planet.

Threats of our time

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

Is Russia a threat to peace?

Regrettably it sounds, but it is our country that is ahead of all the major countries of the world in militarizing the economy. The share of the military budget is 5.4% of our country's GDP. For example, China spends about 2%, the USA - a little more than 3%, India - a little more than 2%. Huge amounts of money 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 percentage of the military budget share of GDP, it’s not worth falling into hysteria and shouting that our country is a threat to peace. It is necessary to carefully analyze everything.

The fact is that in monetary terms 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 leaders. There are several reasons for the high share of the military budget:

1. Weak economy.
2. Huge territories.
3. The absence of a ten-year development of the army.

The last point, according to President V.V. Putin, is crucial. Our country after the collapse of the USSR and until the early 2000s. years almost lost the army. The military campaign in Chechnya is indicative in this regard. The lack of modern weapons, professional military personnel, the latest aircraft and helicopters, we add here the lack of professionalism of generals, the lack of military exercises - all 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 missed deadlines for modernization.

findings

So to 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 mean militarization. Conversely, if the military budget is reduced in real terms, but its percentage of GDP is growing, then such an economy can be called a militarized one.

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