Goal 18:Demilitarize the world economy.ObstaclesReversing the militarization of the world will be the hardest political change to effect. Most of the developed and developing countries devote a substantial part of their economy to the military/police sector. It provides employment for troops as well as for those building and selling weaponry. Changing the amount spent in these areas can be expected to cause economic dislocation and thus will be resisted by governments as well as the firms involved.In addition much of the population is kept in fear of other countries and thus supports a militaristic economy for "self defense". As long as there is large-scale economic inequality in the world, "the haves" will feel a need to defend themselves against the "have nots". So changes in militarism will require new mechanisms for settling international imbalances and planned changes to the economic sectors currently benefiting from militarism. ImplementationThe principal cause of armed conflict in the world is the presence of armaments. Historical analysis have found that when societies accumulate a large stock of weaponry and a military sector they are much more likely to engage in hostile actions. The world now spends much more on militarism than is needed for rational self defense. Not only is this a diversion from useful activities of a society, it is a waste of natural resources and youthful manpower. When finally used in combat this material causes great physical and environmental harm and the portion of the national wealth that had been devoted to creating the armaments is destroyed with no residual public benefit.In the US, especially, the government-armament alliance has become so entrenched that no realistic planning on how to transition from this situation even takes place in the halls of power. Many of the proposals discussed in previous essays have suggested that this state of affairs can be altered by setting new goals and encouraging the private military sector to bid and develop the skills needed to carry out these goals. No child has a goal: "When I grow up I want to make things that kill and maim people." With proper government sponsorship, transition assistance so that people don't feel they are at risk of losing their livelihood, and changes in people's perception of how much militarism is needed for "defense", the climate can be made to change. Because of the inefficient way in which the military sector is supported we must be prepared for expenses above what a project without transition would cost. We must just accept these added costs as being offset by the gains to society from moving from military hardware to more productive tasks. We must supply substitute sources of socially useful income to the military suppliers so that they no longer need to sell their output abroad as well. The US and other developed countries must stop supplying "excess" armaments to others and stop lending them money to buy these armaments. We have not seen a single instance where tanks and fighter planes prevented neighbor to neighbor conflict in Africa, Asia or South America in the past sixty years. Attempts to set up international mediation mechanisms have met with limited success. There is no way of enforcing "international law" since "might makes right" is still the operative paradigm at this level. I don't have a solution, but the development of new trans-national bodies ranging from the WTO to the International Criminal Court shows that there is a desire for a less militaristic way to solve disputes. Currently the effectiveness of all these bodies is being hampered by America's unwillingness to participate or ratify the necessary treaties. The US may be the single most powerful state in the world, but it does not have the ability to outweigh the entire world when it acts collectively. As other states form cooperative institutions the US will have to join or risk finding itself isolated. |