Conscription in the twenty-first century: Do reinforcements equal security?

ABSTRACT

In the years following the Cold War, European states scrambled to downsize and reorganize their militaries to reflect the new geopolitical environment. As a part of this transformation, virtually every NATO member suspended or phased out conscription. This article discusses the strategic rationale behind Germany's decision to end conscription while comparing it with Norway's decision to enhance the draft. In recent years, Norway has refined its defense strategy and shifted its focus away from territorial defense. Nevertheless, territorial defense remains a priority in Norwegian defense policy and conscription enables Norway to expand its territorial presence, maintain a total defense doctrine, and guarantee a stable level of military manpower.

Notes

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3. Pertti Joenniemi, The Changing Face of European Conscription (Surrey: Ashgate, 2006).

4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Book IV: The Roman Comitia,”iIn The Social Contract Book IV, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Cambridge : Hackett Publishing, 1762), 79.

5. Government of Norway. The Constitution—Complete Text,. 2014, www.stortinget.no/en/Grunnlovsjubileet/In-English/The-Constitution—Complete-text/ (accessed November 19, 2015).

6. Tibor Szvircsev Tresch, “The Transformation of Switzerland's Militia Armed Forces and the Role of the Citizen in Uniform.” Armed Forces & Society 37 (2011): 241.

7. Ibid.

8. Andrew Bacevich, “Ending Endless War,” Foreign Affiars 95 (2016): 41.

9. Stephen Pfaffenzeller, “Conscription and Democracy: The Mythology of Civil–Military Relations,” Armed Forces and Society 36 (2010): 483.

10. Ibid., 487.

11. Ibid., 489.

12. Ibid., 490.

13. Tibor Szvircsev Tresch and Karl Haltiner, The Decline of the Mass Armies and Conscription in Europe (Durban : International Sociological Association, 2006), 6.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Henning Sorensen, “Conscription in Scandinavia during the Last Quarter Century: Developments and Arguments,” Armed Forces & Society 26 (2000): 317.

18. Celestine Bohlen, Soldiers Calm French Nerves, but Are Paying a Steep Price, July 25, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/world/europe/soldiers-calm-french-nerves-but-are-paying-a-steep-price.html?_r=0 (accessed September 1, 2016).

19. BBC News. Poland Plans Paramilitary Force of 35,000 to Counter Russia, June 3, 2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36442848 (accessed September 1, 2016).

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21. Ibid.

22. Tresch, “The Transformation of Switzerland's Militia,” 242.

23. Yew-Kwang Ng, “Why is the Military Draft Common? Conscription and Increasing Returns,” Annals of Economics and Finance 9 (2008): 49.

24. Reuven Gal and Frederick J Manning, “Morale andIits Components: A Cross‐National Comparison,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 17 (1987): 370.

25. Ibid., 387.

26. Ibid., 389.

27. Beth J. Asch and John Warner. “Themes in Defence Manpower Economics and Challenges for the future.” Defence and Peace Economics 11 (2000): 99.

28. Tresch, “The Transformation of Switzerland's Militia,” 242.

29. Torunn Laugen Haaland,. “Still Homeland Defenders at Heart? Norwegian Military Culture in International Deployments,” International Peacekeeping 17 (2010): 542.

30. Ibid., 546, 547.

31. Magnus Peterson and Hakon Lunde Saxi, “Shifted Roles: Explaining Danish and Norwegian Alliance Strategy 1949–2009.” The Journal of Strategic Studies 36 (2013): 771.

32. Haaland, “Still Homeland Defenders,” 544.

33. Ibid., 96.

34. Ibid., 99.

35. Ng, “Why is the Military Draft Common?” 375.

36. Ibid., 375.

37. Pak Shun Ng, “"Why Not a Volunteer Army?” Reeximaning the Impact of Miltiary Conscription On Economic Growth For Singapore." The Singapore Economic Review 50 (2005): 54.

38. Pfaffenzeller,. “Conscription and Democracy,” 483.

39. Ibid.

40. Ng, “Why Not a Volunteer Army?” 59.

41. Ibid., 60.

42. Peter Nordlund, “Defence-Specific Inflation: The Swedish Perspective.” Defence and Peace Economics 27 (2016): 263.

43. Ibid.

44. “Back to Normal Behaviour: Echoes of Cold War in Norway as Russia Resumes Military Flights Testing NATO Defences,” National Post, April 3, 2015, www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/news/world/norway-russia-734002 (accessed December 10, 2015).

45. Haaland, T “Still Homeland Defenders,” 542.

46. Jonny Otterlei, The Norwegian Defence Reforms of the 1990s (Kjeller, Norway: Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, 2002): 14.

47. Ibid.

48. Håkon Lunde Saxi, Norwegian and Danish Defence Policy: A Comparative Study of the Post–Cold War Era (Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, 2010), 103.

49. Peterson and Saxi. “Shifted Roles,” 776.

50. Alexander Urnes Johnson, Kjetil Hove, and Tobias Lillekvelland, “Country Survey: Military Expenditure and Defence Policy in Norway 1970–2013,” Defence and Peace Economics, 28 (2015): 5.

51. Peterson and Saxi, “Shifted Roles,” 777.

52. Ibid.

53. Thomas Hirst, “Russia Tells Sweden that Hunting for its Submarines Is ‘a Mindless Waste of Swedish Taxpayer Money,’” National Post, April 14, 2015, news.nationalpost.com/news/a-mindless-waste-of-swedish-taxpayer-money-russia-mocks-sweden-for-searching-for-imaginary-russian-submarine (accessed December 18, 2015).

54. Norwegian Intelligence Service. Focus 2016: Threat Assessment (Oslo: Norwegian Ministry of Defence, 2016), 25.

55. Ibid., 22.

56. Peter J. Burgess and Naima Mouhleb, A Presentation of the State of Societal Security in Norway, (Oslo: International Peace Research Institute, 2007).

57. Thomas Nilsen, “Norway to Continue with Military Border Guards,” Barents Observer. September 24, 2009, barentsobserver.com/en/news/norway-continue-military-border-guards (accessed October 1, 2016).

58. Ibid.

59. Norwegian Chief of Defence, Norwegian Armed Forces in Transition: Strategic Defence Review (Oslo: Government of Norway, 2015), 7.

60. Gotkowska, Justyna. “Norway and the Bear: Norwegian Defence Policy—Lessons for the Baltic Region,” Point of View (Centre for Eastern Studies) 38 (2014): 34.

61. Ibid., 31.

62. Gotkowska, “Norway and the Bear,” 19.

63. Ibid.

64. Thomas Nilsen, “Norway Creates New Army Unit on Border to Russia, Barents Observer, June 16, 2016, thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2016/06/norway-creates-new-army-unit-border-russia (accessed September 1, 2016).

65. Ibid.

66. Norwegian Ministry of Defence. National Defence 2013 Facts and Figures. (Oslo: Government of Norway, 2013), 30.

67. Ibid.

68. Gotkowska, “Norway and the Bear.” 48.

69. Norwegian Ministry of Defence, 2013 Facts and Figures, 30.

70. Otterlei, The Norwegian Defence Reforms, 15.

71. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Defence ExpendituresDdata for 2014 and Estimates for 2015 (Brussels: NATO, 2015), 8.

72. Ibid.

73. Ibid.

74. Ibid.

75. Ibid.

76. Ine Eriksen Søreide, Strengthening andRrenewing Our Armed Forces for theFfuture: Hard Choices and Dilemmas, Government of Norway, February 24, 2015, https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/-et-forsterket-og-fornyet-forsvar-for-fremtiden–vanskelige-valg-og-dilemmaer/id2395220/ (accessed December 15, 2015).

77. Johnson et al., “Country Survey,” 12.

78. Vincenzo Bove and Elisa Cavatorta, “From Conscription to Volunteers: Budget Shares in NATO Defence Spending,” Defence and Peace Economics 23 (June 2012): 273.

79. Norwegian Armed Forces in Transition.

80. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook: Norway, December 7, 2015, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/no.html (accessed December 17, 2015).

81. Norwegian Ministry of Defence, White Paper, Competency for a New Era (Oslo: Government of Norway, 2012), 15.

82. Ibid., 17.

83. Ibid.

84. Søreide, Strengthening and Renewing our Armed Forces.

85. Norwegian Ministry of Defence. National Defence 2013: Facts and Figures (Oslo : Government of Norway, 2013), 30.

86. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, “Defence Reform in Germany: A Likely Prospect?” Strategic Comments 6 (2000): 1.

87. Franz-Josef Meiers, “The Reform of the Bundeswehr: Adaptation or Fundamental Renewal?” European Security 10 (2001): 2.

88. BBC News, “German Army ‘to Suspend’ Conscription in 2011,” November 22, 2010, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11817312 (accessed October 30, 2017).

89. Federal Ministry of Defence. White Paper 2006 on German Security Policy and the Future of the Bundeswehr. (Berlin: Federal Ministry of Defence, 2006) 20.

90. Ibid.

91. Pauli Suspension.

92. Meiers, “TheRreform of the Bundeswehr.”: 5.

93. Peter Struck, Defence Policy Guidlines (Berlin: Federal Ministry of Defence, 2003), 4.

94. Ibid., 5.

95. Deutsche Welle, Report: Exercises for Military Deployment in Germany Expected to Start Soon. October 12, 2016, www.dw.com/en/report-exercises-for-military-deployment-in-germany-expected-to-start-soon/a-19489424 (accessed October 15, 2016).

96. Meiers, “TheRreform of the Bundeswehr,” 12.

97. Ibid.

98. Ibid.

99. Ibid.

100. Kerry Longhurst, “Why Aren't the Germans Debating the Draft? Path Dependency and the Persistence of Conscription,” German Politics 12 (2003): 148.

101. Ibid.

102. Ibid., 154.

103. Ibid., 161.

Additional information

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Matthew Kosnik

Matthew Kosnik ([email protected]) holds an MA in political science from the University of Windsor in Canada. His primary areas of research are policing in Canada, Canadian foreign policy, and European security. His previous work has been published in the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.