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We provide quantitative evidence on the relationship between military spending and innovation in the 19th century. Combining innovation data from world fairs and historical military data across Europe, we show that national military spending is associated with national innovation toward war logistics such as food processing, but less toward war technology such as guns. This innovation pattern reflects differences in the historical markets for war supplies: while the armed forces sourced weapons globally, the food market remained local. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on NATO burden sharing comprises dozens of works. Since the end of the cold war, NATO adapted, enlarged, and institutionally complexified its mandates and area of operations. Yet, burden sharing research rarely accounts for such aspects given the political and scholarly focus on NATO's target of 2% of GDP on military spending since the 2000s. This research merges rational institutionalism with collective action models on club goods production to study NATO Centres of Excellence. These 30 institutions are externally funded, independently run, and address the collective strategic problems associated with Alliance Transformation using informal arrangements, the Memorandum of Understanding. The contents of those agreements are compared using rational institutional design theory. This article offers original data reconceptualising the NATO burdens partners undertake beyond military expenditures using COE participation and hosting while offering a framework for a future examination of how the COE institutional agreements manage strategic problems (i.e. enforcement, allocation, uncertainty, etc.) with expanded data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defence effort is often discussed in terms of relative military spending – as % of GDP. The aggregate nature of this measure, however, hides important within-budget dynamics. Specifically, states have to make hard choices about distributing their spending among personnel and equipment expenditures. NATO has adopted a recommendation that 20% of the defence budget should go to equipment. Our paper contributes to the emerging literature on determinants of personnel vs. equipment share. We perform panel data regression on NATO countries between 2005 and 2019. Our results indicate that (i) equipment is more elastic to overall military expenditures than personnel, and (which is a novel contribution of our paper) (ii) that larger All-Volunteer Forces (AVF) create demands for increased personnel spending even well after the transitioning period, (iii) How mature is the AVF plays no role, while relative personnel costs is an important predictor. The second result yields especially important implications for the renewed policy debates on the limits of the AVF model in the context of European security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West Africa has been grappling with various security challenges prompting governments' intervention via military expenditure both at the country and regional level. Given the sporadic surge in military expenditure in the region and the potential effect such expenditure may exert on investment which is a sin qua non to the development process of any economy or region, this study utilizes the augmented mean group (AMG) approach and the Granger non-causality test in investigating the impact and causal relationship between investment and military expenditure in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) between 1980 and 2020. With country-specific cross-dependence and heterogeneity adequately accounted for, the study found that military expenditure has a dampening impact on investment at both the panel and country levels; unemployment adversely impacts investment; whereas economic growth stimulates investment (catalytic effect) in the ECOWAS, although at differing levels of significance. The study also established a long-run relationship among the variables; with only economic growth Granger causing investment. The study thus recommends that country-specific and regional-based military policies be established to glean economic growth through viable investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We present empirical evidence on the relationship between military spending and the expansion of other government budget items and tax revenues from the unification of Italy (1861) up to the end of World War II. Until 1922, investments in education and social transfers to families mainly moved in step with defence spending. This means that increases in defence spending imply an increase in both education spending and transfers. Moreover, transfers also play a compensatory role during recessions. Increases in defence spending do not crowd out investment in capital expenditure, while disinvestment in defence is associated with an increase in investment in capital. The pro‐cyclical behaviour of tax revenues is compatible with the debt‐financing dynamic of much government expenditure. Although our analytical narrative is not universally valid, it does support the persistent centrality of external wars in the discontinuous growth and expansion of central government in the Italian state, with some exceptions explained by historical events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do informal international agreements without coercive mechanisms affect states' behavior? While scholars have long been interested in this question, answering it often poses empirical challenges, particularly in the arena of international security. By asking and answering a narrower question—Is NATO's Wales Pledge on defense spending working?—I can empirically test the extent to which states have adhered to a public agreement without formal or coercive enforcement mechanisms. I argue that the Wales Pledge has led to higher spending because NATO the organization uniquely enables allies to influence one another's defense planning, publicly and privately. I find support for this argument by interrogating disaggregated defense expenditures of NATO and EU members, and by comparing NATO allies Denmark and Norway with non-allies Finland and Sweden. Although the Wales Pledge has been maligned, it served its purpose by encouraging allies to spend more on defense, particularly on equipment modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practices of social movements during the pandemic show how severe limitations on political and social organization have been turned into opportunities by increasing the focus on social justice and care-based initiatives, building trust and solidarity. This case study explores how the urban militants of the anti-military occupation movement A Foras (Out) maintained visibility during the pandemic. Besides calling attention to the unethical growth of military spending concurrent with the lack of investment in public health during the COVID-19 crisis, the movement engaged in mutualistic action against pandemic-related issues, such as isolation, and social exclusion. We examine ethnographically this hybridized mobilization, which is grounded on the significance of solidarity, community, and the nature of public life. By making social inequality, exclusion and isolation more visible, mutualistic practices act in the social justice arena as a 'purposive orientation'. This case study offers an example of a grassroots social movement renewing its space of knowledge production by widening its agency and reconfiguring care as an action for political change, adding to the notion of caring democracy by giving rise to a mutualist initiative based on horizontality and potential reciprocity. The article provides an up-to-date understanding of how imaginaries and care practices activated around solidarity, security, and safety are recasting society in southern Europe in the wake of COVID-19. It contributes to the debate around caring democracy in social movements studies by rethinking the significance of caring infrastructures and, ultimately, the meaning of solidarity and trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing tensions over China's military build-up and modernization, there is little understanding of China's defense budget. Published estimates vary implausibly from one quarter of the USA's defense budget to near parity, and there are very few attempts to understand how its size or composition has changed over time. This paper uses index number techniques to quantify China's real defense spending over time and relative to the USA. I construct price deflators and show that overall growth has been slower than thought, but also that there has been extremely rapid growth in real military equipment spending that has transformed China's defense forces. China's real defense purchasing power is also found to be 60% larger than commonly used market exchange rate estimates and equal to 59% of the USA's defense budget in 2021. Notwithstanding the rapid growth in equipment, the high relative purchasing power mostly reflects China's far larger number of active personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents evidence on the relationship concerning military spending among Southeast Mediterranean countries (Greece – Turkey, Israel – Egypt, Israel – Turkey) over the period 1962–2020. We account for the presence of nonlinearities in the bilateral relationships of defence spending by applying Threshold Autoregressive methodologies and utilize kink regression analysis to detect the existence of a country's military spending threshold that signals a threat to another country of the region. Our empirical results show: First, there is a nonlinear strategic interaction between the countries examined, in the sense that their defence spending policy is cointegrated. Second, there is no arms race among the countries examined, but only unilateral effects. Third, there is consistent evidence of a possible military spending equilibrium, in the absence of friction between the countries involved (peace threshold). Our findings have important policy implications as they indicate, first, that each country in the region should not determine its level of military spending considering only operational factors, but also considering the signaling of its military spending on its neighboring countries and, second, that there is space for peaceful solutions regarding disputes in the Southeast Mediterranean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain's economic growth over the last few decades constitutes a rather distinctive case in post-World War II Europe, which has attracted international academic interest. This paper examines the relationship between Spain's military expenditure and economic growth during the period 1954-2021 to shed further light. Using the recently developed method of Dynamic Autoregressive Distributive Lag (DARDL) simulation proposed by Jordan and Philips (2018) and the Kernel-Based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) technique which accounts for potential non-linearities, interactions, and heterogeneous effects, this paper tests the short and long – run equilibrium relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in Spain. Furthermore, with the cumulative sum (CUSUM) and cumulative sum of squares (CUSUMSQ) tests, we examine the stability of the above relationship. The results show that there is a positive short and long – run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in Spain during the period under study. However, when we stratify our sample (before and after Spain's democratization), the positive relationship is sustained only during the years of the non – democratic regime. This has further policy implications as policymakers in Spain need to carefully balance national security concerns with the need for sustained economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central aspect of the modernization of the armed forces is innovation in military technology, which in turn has been closely linked to defense spending. However, the connection between these variables has hardly been analyzed quantitatively. This is due, in part, to the scarcity of statistical data on military technology. This paper has constructed this indicator for the case of Spain based on patents registered in the country. This has allowed us to conduct a VAR model analysis to explore the relationship between defense spending and military technology and between the latter and the modernization of the armed forces from the late 19th century to the eve of the Civil War. Estimates have revealed that defense spending did not have a causal effect (in the Granger sense) on military patents, but there was a relationship in the opposite direction; that is, technological innovation preceded spending. In addition, it has been found that the patents that most influenced spending were foreign patents. On the other hand, there is evidence of a positive effect of military patents on the modernization of the armed forces, with foreign patents being the most influential in this case as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to identify the determinants of sovereign debt default for a panel of twenty developing nations over the period 1970 to 2019, specifically focusing on the influence of defence/military spending. This study's findings indicate that increased military spending has generally reduced default risk in the examined countries, but that excessive military spending, past a certain threshold, can have strong detrimental impacts on the probability of sovereign debt default. Additionally, the findings show that the country's levels of democracy and foreign currency reserves level are both negatively linked to debt default risk, whereas default history, level of external debt, and short-term debt to reserves ratio are all significantly positively linked to higher default risk. The study suggests that certain countries may wish to evaluate their level of military spending to ensure it is not too high. Alternatively, countries may lower their accrual of external debt from military spending by focusing on domestic arms production, mitigating their risk that way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper applies connectivity measures—membership status, contiguity, inverse distance, and power projection—to investigate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense burden sharing at the operational or (defense spending) categorical levels (i.e., personnel, infrastructure, equipment, and operations and maintenance [O&M]) during the post‐Cold War era, 1991–2022. Alternative spatial weights, assigned to allies' operational‐based spillovers, indicate diverse free‐riding responses with the greatest free riding characterizing equipment, followed by O&M and then personnel outlays. Infrastructure spending, which does not permit much substitution among allies, is understandably characterized by the least inter‐ally free riding. After the Wales Summit and Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, there are marked changes to NATO free riding at the operational levels, with equipment spending displaying reduced free riding. Generally, there is little evidence of a positive reaction to increased Russian military expenditures; however, there is some enhanced operational spending by NATO allies nearest to Russia after 2014. Also, we estimate simultaneous spatial autoregressive models to gauge inter‐operational spending responses to the four kinds of spillovers, where we find interesting inter‐operational substitutions and complementarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) builds and deploys its capabilities in the evolving Indo-Pacific strategic environment. Geography, domestic politics, and historical moments shape defense policy and spending. The NZDF continues traditional deployments--peacekeeping, logistics, maritime security, and humanitarian operations--aiming to maintain an independent foreign policy while contributing modestly to the international order. The NZDF plays a critical role in humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, areas where New Zealand enjoys goodwill. However, despite improved troop quality, New Zealand's defense spending and personnel numbers have declined, eliminating its air combat capabilities. While HADR and other nontraditional roles grow, including search, rescue, and resource protection, the NZDF shifts away from its traditional role of border defense. Coupled with reluctance to formalize alliances beyond Australia, this approach in a riskier environment seems like a dangerous gamble. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resolve to subjugate Boko Haram terrorism and restore social order in the northeast and Nigeria as a whole is at the top of the wish list of the Nigerian state. However, the spiralling nature of the asymmetric conflict and the gruesome records of atrocities perpetrated by the terrorist group have not only intensified the apprehension regarding the dynamic trend of its violence and attendant realities, but also cast a scepticism on the effectiveness of the counter terrorism efforts of the Nigerian state. This paper examines the consequences of the heinous activities of the Boko Haram terrorists and the efforts of the Nigerian state in combating terrorism in the northeast Nigeria. It further discusses the obstacles associated with the substantial financial expenditure on counter terrorism operations and also examines how Sambisa Forest militates against the concerted efforts to end the menace. This article argues that while there are few glimpses of optimism, the despair seems to be much more as a result of many debilitating factors such as corruption, secrecy in military spending among other things. The article concludes that a comprehensive cum effective strategy to combat terrorism in the interest of peace and meaningful development in the northern Nigeria requires a balance between both the military and the civilian procedures. The article recommends among other things the need to address the root causes of terrorism while government also improves accountability of the funds dedicated to the counter-terrorism operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In pursuit of good governance and better allocation of resources, corruption and informal economy are of interest to policymakers and citizens alike. The impacts of military spending on the informal economy are scant. Moreover, the effects of an external factor, such as corruption that moderates this relationship, have largely been neglected in previous studies. Hence, this paper investigates how corruption moderates the effects of military spending on the informal economy in 30 Asian countries from 1995 to 2017. Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes the GMM estimation technique, which allows cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in panel data analysis, to examine the moderating role of corruption on the relationship between military spending and the informal economy. Findings: Empirical findings from this paper indicate that an increase in military spending declines the informal economy while corruption increases it. Interestingly, the negative effects of military spending on the informal economy will mitigate with a greater degree of corruption in the Asian region. We also find that enhancing economic growth and attracting more FDI has reduced the informal economy in Asian countries. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study conducted to examine the moderating role of corruption on the military spending – informal economy nexus. Thus far, this approach has not been investigated in the existing literature, particularly for Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops and tests two competing arguments regarding how a patron's diplomatic visits influence the military spending of protégés. One argument posits that a patron's visits will decrease allies' defense spending by producing reassurance (reassurance hypothesis). Another perspective contends that such visits will increase allies' burden sharing by fostering allied partnerships (partnership hypothesis). I test these hypotheses by analyzing US presidential visits to allies and the annual percentage changes in allies' military spending from 1950 to 2007. I find evidence supporting the reassurance hypothesis, indicating that diplomatic visits by US presidents are associated with lower military expenditures by allies the following year. Furthermore, I find that the negative effect is primarily observed when visits are made in the first 3 years of a presidential term, while visits in the final year of a presidency do not result in significant changes in allied burden sharing. The findings highlight the role of a patron's travel diplomacy in providing reassurance in military alliances, as well as its unintended consequence for protégés' foreign policy: reduced alliance contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle East is a region of chronic insecurity due to internal and external tensions. These tensions and insecurity have made the Middle East one of the world's leading regions in military armaments. This study investigates the stochastic convergence of military burden in 10 selected Middle Eastern countries using comprehensive unit root analysis. Stochastic convergence for each country from 1977 to 2020 is examined using conventional, structural break, nonlinear, and Fourier‐based unit root tests. Empirical results provide strong evidence of convergence with regional averages in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. There is also some evidence of convergence in the case of Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Turkiye. However, evidence for the existence of convergence in Iran and Jordan is weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolving role of security as a key economic and political challenge, focusing on Germany's response to geopolitical instability, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It argues that security is now a central economic factor, influencing investment and market stability. Based on data on defense spending and fiscal policy, the article highlights inadequate earlier efforts to rebuild defense capacity, with rising fiscal pressures. The paper emphasises the need for reforms in Germany's and Europe's security strategies to address hybrid threats and financial burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the challenges of the new security situation that Germany faces against the background of current geopolitical conflicts and the potential weakening of US security guarantees for Europe. The article counteracts the widespread idea that more money and more soldiers are necessary and automatically lead to an increase in military power. Instead, the article argue that the financial resources spent on the military sector need to be used more efficiently. The article discusses reform options that concern different fields, e.g. the organisation of military defence in Europe, the procurement of military equipment and the recruiting of soldiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1945 to 1961, the United States spent over a billion dollars attempting to develop an airplane powered by a nuclear reactor. Such an aircraft seemingly offered nearly limitless performance capabilities, especially in terms of range, but numerous technical problems existed from the outset. The plane would have required an overly-hefty radiation shield, scientific knowledge of the involved materials was insufficient, and any plane crash would create a legitimate nuclear disaster. This article examines the nuclear plane project and what it reveals about the application (or lack thereof) of scientific knowledge by policymakers charged with developing nuclear technologies. Even though scientists and engineers were clear about the attendant technical issues, policymakers focused on the potentiality of any nuclear airplane to the detriment of the project's development and its ultimate demise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democrats and Republicans have polarized in their attitudes (i.e., ideological polarization) and their feelings toward each other (i.e., affective polarization). Simultaneously, both groups also seem to diverge in their fatual beliefs about reality. The preregistered survey experiment among 2,253 American citizens examined how this factual belief polarization may or may not fuel ideological and affective polarization around four keys issues: income differences, immigration, climate change, and defense spending. On all issues except immigration, Democrats and Republicans were equally or more divided in their factual beliefs about the present than in their ideals for the future. Corrective information decreased partisan polarization over some ideals, but not directional policy attitudes. Priming respondent's factual beliefs conversely increased polarization around defense spending, but not other issues. Much remains unclear about the complex relation between factual beliefs and polarization, but measuring ideals and priming beliefs could be promising avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Arms Race encapsulates a dynamic geopolitical competition characterized by escalating military capabilities and strategic posturing between the U.S and China. Amidst the intensifying Sino-US arms race, the objective of this research is to examine the trends and patterns of Sino-US defense spending's (2010-2022) to analyze the evolving military competition's strategic, economic and social implications, contributing to the discourse on global security and stability. Data from reputable sources like SIPRI, IISS, plus official budget reports and defense White-Paper's inform the analysis. Using a mix-method approach, quantitative data is descriptively presented to highlight trends, patterns, and significant changes over time. Plus, qualitative analysis is conducted to interpret the implications of these expenses, drawing on International Relation's theories and expert opinions to assess how shifts in military spending influences power dynamics, alliances, and conflicts? The results show that, the global military expenditures surpassed $2240 billion. China's defense spending has seen a 29-year consecutive increase, while the US maintains its top spender status, propelled by ongoing modernization efforts and diverse geopolitical strategies. This study is Grounded in the "Security Dilemma" framework, assumes that potential enemies would view a country's attempts to strengthen its security as a threat, setting off a cycle of action and reaction that deepens mutual suspicions and contributes to the potential for an arms race. Due to the Sino-US ongoing military modernization plans and diverse geopolitical strategies, it is suggested that this tendency will persist in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 ruptured Europe's security constellation, leading to historically neutral Finland and Sweden to seek NATO memberships. While there is literature on how NATO influences country's security apparatus, the impact of NATO on smaller states' securitization capacity remains unclear. We undertake 1) a discourse analysis of Norway and Finland's three respective Arctic strategies, 2) a discourse analysis of two online Arctic newspapers 'High North News' and 'The Barents Observer', and 3) an analysis of the allocation of Finnish and Norwegian military spending from 2014-2022. We explore both countries as cases where one is a historic member of NATO and the other is not. Despite this, both states share similar structural security risks such as Russia's geographic proximity. We periodize securitizing dynamics related to the Arctic, matching it to changes in the Finnish and Norwegian military sectors. Given small states lack relative material capabilities, we argue there is a systematic deadlock in transforming securitizing moves into material action. However, as a NATO state, Norway exhibits a significantly higher level of participation in military maneuvers and additional securitizing behavior compared to Finland. By contrast, Finland relies more heavily on intense securitizing rhetoric without accompanying material actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between political stability, military expenditure, and economic growth in Tanzania, from 2002 to 2022. The study uses the ARDL model due to its ability to handle variables with different orders of integration, its flexibility in capturing dynamic relationships, and its robustness in providing insights into both short-term and long-term interactions among variables. The ARDL bounds test has revealed the existence of cointegration, suggesting the presence of long-run relationships among variables. Moreover, the empirical results show that past GDP is positively related to current economic growth, while the effect of voice and accountability on economic growth remains statistically insignificant. Further, the effects of regulatory quality and the rule of law on economic growth exhibit mixed effects. Also, the individual effects of political stability and military expenditure on the economy remain positive and statistically significant. However, the interaction of political stability and military spending is negatively related with the current economic growth but positively correlated with economic growth in the long run. These findings underscore the imperative of political stability and strategic military expenditure as critical ingredients in generating sustainable economic growth in Tanzania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of SIRIUS - Zeitschrift fur Strategische Analysen is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is a dearth of comprehensive studies examining the compositional and asymmetric effects of defence spending on simultaneous economic growth. This study uses the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) approach to analyse how disaggregated defence spending affects economic growth in Greece in the short and long term. The results hold significant theoretical and practical policy implications. First, military spending boosts economic growth in the short term but hampers it in the long run. Second, the long-term effects of positive and negative defence spending shocks are distinct, with positive shocks more detrimental to economic growth than the benefits of negative shocks. Finally, our study reveals that personnel expenditures have the most significant and enduring effects on economic growth compared to other military spending categories. Based on these results, Greece should adopt a new defence doctrine that relies on extensive personnel reserves, prioritises state intelligence and production technology, and promotes domestic military equipment over expensive foreign options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geopolitical risk, encompassing wars, terrorism, and tensions between states, exerts a significant impact on global affairs. Previous studies have examined the relationship between geopolitical risk and military spending. However, these studies were limited by certain shortcomings in the measurement tools used to assess geopolitical risk. The introduction of a new geopolitical risk index, leveraging textual analysis technology, offers a way to overcome some of these limitations. Despite this advancement, research exploring the predictive capacity of this geopolitical risk index on military spending behaviour remains scarce. Specifically, no previous studies have investigated the predictive power of both local and global geopolitical risk indices on military spending behaviour. To bridge this gap, this study employs panel VAR analysis for 34 countries worldwide, spanning from 1993 to 2022. The results indicate that the military spending behaviour of countries is significantly influenced by local geopolitical risk rather than global geopolitical risk. Furthermore, the findings also reveal that an increase in geopolitical risk during a given year can predict military spending behaviour in the subsequent 2 years. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers seeking to understand governments' behaviour regarding military spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of the most notable human behavioral palimpsests result from warfare and its durable traces in the form of defensive architecture and strategic infrastructure. For premodern periods, this architecture is often understudied at the large scale, resulting in a lack of appreciation for the enormity of the costs and impacts of military spending over the course of human history. In this article, we compare the information gleaned from the study of the fortified cities of the Early Historic period of the Indian subcontinent (c. 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE) with the precolonial medieval era (9-17th centuries CE). Utilizing in-depth archaeological and historical studies along with local sightings and citizen-science blogs to create a comprehensive data set and map series in a "big-data" approach that makes use of heterogeneous data sets and presence-absence criteria, we discuss how the architecture of warfare shifted from an emphasis on urban defense in the Early Historic period to an emphasis on territorial offense and defense in the medieval period. Many medieval fortifications are known from only local reports and have minimal identifying information but can still be studied in the aggregate using a least-shared denominator approach to quantification and mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our case-oriented analysis of the drivers of climate change highlights the barriers and pathways to climate action. We employ Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), specifically fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), to trace the ways in which combinations of climate change drivers helps us develop a better understanding of climate change, with a special emphasis on nation-states making a disproportionate contribution to this problem. World Bank data is used to analyze 179 countries allowing us to explore how population, gross domestic product per capita (Treadmill of Production), and military spending as a percentage of GDP (Treadmill of Destruction) provide different recipes for understanding two climate change outcomes as they relate to UN Sustainable Development Goals (particularly SDGs 10 and 13). Our analysis yields new insights, illuminating two distinct recipes, thereby indicating that a focus on mechanisms provides new ways of understanding social processes and their connection to carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need for European countries to reassess their defense spending and capabilities in light of Russia's attack on Ukraine and changing relationships with the United States. It highlights the fact that European NATO members still rely heavily on US security guarantees and have been hesitant to provide sufficient military support to Ukraine. The article argues that meeting the NATO target of 2% of GDP for defense spending may not be enough to achieve sufficient defense capabilities in Europe, and that Europe must reduce its reliance on the US and develop stronger European defense capabilities. The article also discusses the impact of the war in Ukraine on defense spending and the need for European countries to prioritize defense in their budgets. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the challenges of defense spending in Europe and emphasizes the importance of sustained defense investment for the long-term health of the defense industry. It acknowledges the historical neglect of defense investments in Europe and the recent realization of the need for a strong defense technological and industrial base. The article also examines the issue of defense spending in a NATO context and the specific nature of the EU's process of encouraging defense investment among its member states. It concludes by discussing the political nature of defense spending and the EU's approach to defense expenditure, including voluntary benchmarks and initiatives like PESCO and CARD. The EU's defense expenditure is not accurately reflected in reporting, and while the EU is increasingly engaged in defense, its defense spending as measured against the NATO 2% pledge has been lackluster. The EU recognizes the importance of increased defense spending but acknowledges its limited political power to compel member states. The EU may need to re-energize its defense efforts to hedge against US retrenchment in Europe. [Extracted from the article]

Communicating and making sense of large numbers — millions, billions, and trillions — is a persistent struggle in our society. Using large numbers is a learning requirement for elementary school children, but even adults struggle with it. Hence supporting future teachers in developing their own understanding of the concepts is valuable. To construct, enact, and revise an educational experience for preservice teachers, we apply three frameworks of teaching mathematics for social justice tasks, high cognitive demand tasks, and productive mathematics discussion. The context uses United States educational and defense spending, the national budget, and the gross domestic product. Preservice teachers talk to family members outside of the classroom about large numbers. In class, they read arguments that compare educational and defense funding using the U.S. federal budget (defense receives much more federal funding) to educational and defense spending using the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (educational spending, at local, state, and national levels is much more than defense spending). Through action research, we implemented, revised, and adapted the task several times. We present the completed task and preservice teacher responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop a model on how military and trade alliances can impact defense spending. • Importance of trade and its balance with the leader influences defense spending. • The larger the leader's trade and surplus, the lower the minor partners' spending. Military spending was the main government expenditure until the 20th century, and it still represents a significant fraction of most governments' budgets. We develop a theoretical model to understand how both military and trade alliances with military leaders can impact defense spending. By increasing the costs of military aggression by a non-ally, an alliance reduces the probability of war and allows minor partners reducing their military spending in exchange for a stronger trade relationship with an alliance leader and a higher trading surplus for the latter. We test our hypotheses with data on 138 countries for 1996–2020. Our results show that the importance of the trade relationship and the trade balance with the military alliance leader is a significant driver of military spending. The greater the weight of trade with the military leader and the higher its trade surplus, the lower is the defense spending of the minor partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public places an important constraint on funding security in Europe, and austerity risks making the constraint tighter. Several recent studies show that curtailing military spending is a popular way to reduce debt in Europe. Yet it remains unclear if military spending aversion persists when threats are salient. We fielded an original survey experiment in Italy weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine to examine how information about security threats influences military spending preferences and fiscal trade-offs. We found that information about threats increases support for military spending. To validate the survey experiment, we recontacted and remeasured our respondent's preferences three weeks after Russia's invasion and find evidence consistent with our initial experiment. Our findings suggest that, while public opposition to military spending remains high in Italy, external threats dampen the public's opposition to military spending, even under high debt burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Española de Sociología is the property of Federacion Espanola de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Many observers of the contemporary Sino-American relationship are concerned about the growth of China's military power. Figuring out the extent of China's military investment is however difficult because of the unreliability of official Chinese statistics. Some analysts have tried to formulate their own estimates of China's military spending using purchasing power parity (PPP) to account for China's lower labour and production costs. Anand Toprani explores the dangers of relying on PPP calculations using the lessons learned from the flawed assessments of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He argues that focusing on dollar figures says little about actual military capabilities and the asymmetries between US and Chinese militaries. ◼ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this investigation was to empirically assess the association between military expenditure and income inequality in the 19 European member states of NATO between 2011 and 2022. To achieve this, the authors carried out multivariate statistical analysis using Kaplan-Meier life tables and survival estimation techniques. The results highlighted a trend in the countries analysed that income inequality tended to decrease when investment in the military increased during the period under consideration. The association manifested itself in the shortest time in the group of countries with the lowest military spending per capita, while emerging in the longer term in the countries with the highest. Furthermore, under high threat of war, the association tends to be shortest in relative terms in countries with the lowest military expenditure per capita. The results also revealed that the association between military spending and income inequality is more pronounced in the smallest countries by population and those with the lowest military expenditure per capita. The authors believe that this investigation will enrich scientific knowledge with new insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study integrates two strands of the alliance burden-sharing literature: the research exploring the impact of the patron's ability to credibly threaten abandonment and allies' incentives to burden shift, and the call to disaggregate defense spending when evaluating burden sharing. We contend that allies burden shift by reallocating funds away from capabilities designed to counter threats the patron is unlikely to abandon. Using a novel dataset on naval power, we examine the impact of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) 2014 Wales Pledge and find a notable reduction in non-US NATO naval capabilities post-pledge. We argue that this trend reflects members' confidence that the US is unlikely to renege on its commitment to protect vital Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs). Since the US cannot credibly threaten to abandon its commitment to protect the alliance's SLOCs, NATO members' increase in overall defense spending was shifted away from investments in naval capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much work has been completed analyzing the role of territory's effect on conflict, less work has demonstrated how territory affects military budgets. I argue that a state's defense spending is subsidized by clearly defined geographic focal points. Using geographic data, I show that states clearly defined by rivers and oceans spend less money on defense budgets as a proportion of GDP because the prospects of conflict are lower and internal social cohesion is higher, decreasing the need for large standing militaries for repression/expansion/defense. I contend that this effect is exogenous to threat. On the other hand, more mountainous states should spend more on defense due to increased costs of defense and decreased sense of identity among local populations. Situating this debate within the state development literature helps us answer important questions regarding state formation/consolidation and peaceful interactions with neighbors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous investigations on the military spending-inequality nexus (in South Africa) were underpinned by the assumption that military spending and inequality behaves in symmetric fashion and employed linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model in their analysis. This paper extends and improves upon prior studies by investigating the short-run and long-run asymmetric effect of military spending on South Africa’s income inequality. Using annual data from 1980 to 2017 and the asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model by Shin et al. (2014), our paper revisits the military spending-income inequality nexus. We find evidence to suggest an asymmetric association between military and income inequality—income inequality responds differently to positive and negative shocks of military spending in the long- and short-run. Based on these findings, we conclude that the NARDL model delivers more accurate estimates and provides nuanced insights that the traditional linear ARDL.

AbstractThis research analyses and establishes linkages between the frequently disregarded economic theories that drive military spending. This paper’s analysis methodically goes over pertinent material, offering a thorough timeline that identifies significant moments that shaped the evolution of modern economic theories about military spending. Our analysis spans from the medieval period to the post-cold war times. Most of the analysis concentrates on conventional economic theories and their role in shaping military spending philosophies in Europe. We find that historical perspectives and theoretical underpinnings contribute to nuanced and informed debates, ensuring that the economic implications of defence investments are thoroughly understood. The ongoing discourse on military spending benefits from acknowledging the diverse roots and evolving theoretical perspectives, fostering a holistic understanding of the economic intricacies associated with defence expenditures, thus further emphasising the importance of this paper during such times.

The October 2024 issue of the Digest of Middle East Studies (DOMES) offers a collection of eight articles that cover a wide range of topics in the Middle East. The articles have undergone a rigorous peer review process and provide valuable insights into various aspects of politics and policy in the region. Topics covered include Jordanian electoral reform, media coverage of Saudi Arabia's humanitarian aid, gendered media coverage of Egyptian parliament members, population policies in Arab countries, US-Iran relations, military spending in the Middle East, the Yemen conflict, and the concept of heritage in Saudi poetry. The journal aims to provide diverse perspectives for readers interested in Middle Eastern politics and policies. [Extracted from the article]

There is a growing risk of a military attack on Taiwan by mainland China (otherwise known as the People's Republic of China, or PRC) to achieve what the latter terms "reunification." Taiwan, the US, and Japan must urgently and interactively prepare for this contingency—which is also the best way of deterring it. Taiwan must increase military spending (as it has begun to do), with an emphasis on a "porcupine strategy" of lots of distributed, mobile, survivable, affordable, and lethal weapons. The US must increase its military deployments and joint exercises in the region, again emphasizing the types of weapons that can survive a preemptive PRC attack and counter a Chinese blockade or amphibious invading force. Japan will double defense spending over the next five years in a welcome and transformative move, but effective deterrence requires that it also signal that the collective defense of Taiwan against a military attack is existential for its own security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]