1st Edition

Military Spending and Global Security Humanitarian and Environmental Perspectives

Edited By Jordi Calvo Rufanges Copyright 2021
    168 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    168 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Global military expenditure reached an estimated $1,822 billion in 2018 and this book questions what that spending responds to and indeed what that entails in terms of global security.

    The book draws from prior knowledge and research on military expenditure but introduces an all-encompassing, in-depth and original analysis of military spending as a key and often overlooked factor of global instability, delving into the present and future consequences of its perpetual growth, as well as confronting the reasoning behind it. The authors argue that increasing military expenditure is not the best response to the emergencies militarization itself has helped create. They assert that militarization is paradoxically both a cause of and a response to the grave challenges our society is facing. The book explains why people are not well served by nation-states when they continuously seek to out-compete one another in the size and destructive powers of their militaries. It discusses the scope of military spending around the world, while explaining how militarism is linked with conflict and security threats, and how military spending further prevents us from adequately dealing with global environmental problems like climate change.

    A must-read for scholars, researchers and students from a wide range of disciplines. It will also find an audience among professionals from the third sector and activists working on issues related to peace, security and militarism, as well as social and climate justice.

    Introduction

    Jordi Calvo Rufanges

    Defence economics and the military-industrial complex

    The military-economic cycle, definition and volume

    National security and militarization

    1 Trends in global military expenditure: drivers of increases and causes of concerns

    Aude-E. Fleurant and Yannick Quéau

    1.1 Introduction

    1.2 Structure, drivers and key actors

    1.3 Global military expenditure

    1.4 Regional and sub-regional dynamics

    1.5 Conclusion

    2 Military expenditure, arms transfer and armed conflicts

    Chloé Meulewaeter

    2.1 Introduction

    2.2 General trends

    2.3 The relationship between military expenditure, arms transfer and armed conflicts

    2.4 Conclusion

    3 Military spending, foreign military operations and counter-terrorism

    Alejandro Pozo Marín

    3.1 Introduction

    3.2 Military spending increases, but the costs of foreign military operations skyrocket

    3.3 Foreign military operations in scenarios of counter-terrorism

    3.4 Lack of budget transparency for foreign military operations

    3.5 Militarist tendency to address political crises

    3.6 Conclusion

    4 Empire, US military spending and campaigning for a moral budget

    Joseph Gerson

    4.1 Introduction

    4.2 Increasing military spending

    4.3 How the system works

    4.4 Campaigning to reduce US military spending

    4.5 Conclusion

    5 Militarisation of the European Union: fresh money for the military industry

    Laëtitia Sédou, Mark Akkerman and Bram Vranken

    5.1 introduction

    5.2 Using the EU budget to answer perceived military needs

    5.3 Adapting resources or technology such as transport infrastructure, skills or space for military use

    5.4 From securitisation to militarisation of external borders and foreign policy

    5.5 The European military-industrial complex shaping EU policies

    5.6 Conclusion

    6 Cost of nuclear weapons

    Tarja Cronberg and Dave Webb

    6.1 Introduction

    6.2 The full costs of nuclear weapons

    6.3 The nuclear arsenals and their costs

    6.4 The ‘modernisation’ process

    6.5 Humanitarian costs

    6.6 Conclusion

    7 Military spending and climate change

    Chloé Meulewaeter and Pere Brunet

    7.1 Introduction

    7.2 Climate change: a scientific view

    7.3 The Global Triangle of Power

    7.4 Climate change: a consequence of the Global Triangle of Power

    7.5 On the link between military spending and climate change

    7.6 Conclusions

    8 Peace movement work on military spending

    Colin Archer

    8.1 Introduction

    8.2 Historical perspective

    8.3 IPB and the global campaign on military spending

    8.4 Other initiatives

    8.5 The campaign goes global

    8.6 Conclusion

    9 Conclusion

    Jordi Calvo Rufanges

    Biography

    Jordi Calvo Rufanges is vice-president of the International Peace Bureau, coordinator of the Global Campaign on Military Spending, professor of armed conflicts, defence economy and international relations and coordinator and researcher of the Centre Delàs of Peace Studies, Barcelona, Spain.