The problem of militarism

Militarism means heavy reliance on the military to solve problems.  When this reliance is excessive, as it is in the world today, we all pay a price.  The costs of mlitarism are many: widespread suffering through war, a climate of mistrust that makes the world more insecure, a costly diversion of resources from the most pressing needs of humanity, and a lost opportunity to build the kind of world we would all want to live in.

The main culprits

Countries that spent most on the military in 2008 were, in order:

1. USA
2. China
3. France
4. UK
5. Russia

These countries account for 60% of military expenditure worldwide (see www.sipri.org).  They are also the five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council, whose job it is to take 'primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security' on behalf of all the nations of the world (see www.un.org). However, these five countries alone account for 80% of the world's arms exports (see  www.globalissues.org).

It doesn't have to be this way

Over time, the world could reduce the amount spent on war each year and tackle the real contributors to future insecurity. These are likely to be growing poverty and marginalisation of the poorest, climate change leading to mass migrations; and militarism itself.

For less than half of what the world spends on the military each year, we could:

• Prevent runaway climate change (cost: $606 billion per year [1% of global GDP] according to the Stern Review)
• Achieve the Millennium Development Goals for poverty alleviation and social and economic development (cost: $20-40 billion per year according to the World Bank)
• Stop widespread death from malaria, which is one of the world's greatest killers (cost: $5 billion per year according to the Roll Back Malaria Partnership)

Let’s be part of the solution!  Try some of these to find out how...

• Campaign Against Arms Trade (UK) — www.caat.org.uk
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament — www.cnduk.org
• Greenpeace International — www.greenpeace.org
• Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom — www.wilpf.org
• International Peace Bureau — www.ipb.org
• International Action Network on Small Arms — www.iansa.org

Note: The military spending data used in this website are taken from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, widely considered the foremost independent authority on world military expenditure.