Spending For Peace Vs Spending For War

Spending For Peace Vs Spending For War

In a report from 2004, the SIPRI authors  noted that, “There is a large gap between what countries are prepared to allocate for military means to provide security and maintain their global and regional power status, on the one hand, and to alleviate poverty and promote economic development, on the other.”

Indeed, compare the military spending with the entire budget of the United Nations:

The United Nations and all its agencies and funds spend about $30 billion each year, or about $4 for each of the world’s inhabitants. This is a very small sum compared to most government budgets and it is less than three percent of the world’s military spending. Yet for nearly two decades, the UN has faced financial difficulties and it has been forced to cut back on important programs in all areas, even as new mandates have arisen. Many member states have not paid their full dues and have cut their donations to the UN’s voluntary funds. As of December 31, 2010, members’ arrears to the Regular Budget topped $348 million, of which the US owed 80%.

— UN Financial Crisis Global Policy Forum (accessed May 2, 2011)

The UN was created after World War II with leading efforts by the United States and key allies.

·         The UN was set up to be committed to preserving peace through international co operation and collective security.

·   The UN’s entire budget is just a tiny fraction of the world’s military expenditure, approximately 1.8%

·         While theUN is not perfect and has many internal issues that need addressing, it is revealing that the world can spend so much on their military but contribute so little to the goals of global security, international cooperation and peace.

At the current level of spending, it would take just a handful of years for the world’s donor countries to cover their entire aid shortfall, of over $4 trillion in promised official aid since 1970, 40 years ago.

Unfortunately, however, as the BBC notes, poverty fuels violence and defense spending has a tendency to rise during times of economic hardship. Theglobal financial crisis is potentially ushering in enormous economic hardship around the world.

At a time when a deep economic recession is causing much turbulence in the civilian world … defense giants such as Boeing and EADS, or Finmeccanica and Northrop Grumman, are enjoying a reliable and growing revenue stream from countries eager to increase their military might.

Both geopolitical hostilities and domestic violence tend to flare up during downturns.

…

Shareholders and employees in the aerospace and defense industry are clearly the ones who benefit most from growing defense spending.

Defense companies, whose main task is to aid governments’ efforts to defend or acquire territory, routinely highlight their capacity to contribute to economic growth and to provide employment.

Indeed, some $2.4 trillion (£1.5tr), or 4.4%, of the global economy “is dependent on violence”, according to the Global Peace Index, referring to “industries that create or manage violence” — or the defense industry.

…

Military might delivers geopolitical supremacy, but peace delivers economic prosperity and stability.

And that, the report insists, is what is good for business.

— Jorn Madslien,The purchasing power of peace, BBC, June 3, 2009

The Global Peace Index that the BBC is referring to is an attempt to quantify the difficult-to-define value of peace and rank countries based on over 20 indicators using both quantitative data and qualitative scores from a range of sources. Here is a summary chart from their latest report:

Global Peace Index 2009 attempts to rank nations on various indicators of peace. Most countries are not considered peaceful, unfortunately.

(The top ranking nations on the global peace index were, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland, and Slovenia. It is worth looking at the report for the full list of indicators used, which cover a mixture of internal and external factors, weighted in various ways.)

Source: href="http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending">World Military Spending</a>, <cite>Global Issues</cite>, Updated: May 06, 2012</p>