Conscription: Encyclopedia II - Conscription - Arguments for conscription

Conscription - Arguments for conscription

Conscription - Valuable training

Some argue that peacetime conscription is an ideal tool for teaching a population basic, important skills such as first aid, swimming, wilderness survival and so on. However, it can be argued that these skills could better be taught in the public school system than during mandatory service.

Conscription - The draft as protection against democracy-destroying military coups

Some argue that conscription should be connected to democracy. A professional army can possibly become a dangerous state-within-a-state. Military virtues such as obedience to orders and respect for the chain of command can possibly be abused by aspiring dictators. Armed forces can attract - consciously or unconsciously - people who prefer authoritarian systems. The army can even become the only chance for a job and decent life in times of unemployment, or for despised minorities. Such people may come to regard the army as their home and elevate it above the state.

On the other hand, once in power a number of dictators such as Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein have used conscription to drive their undemocratic ambitions. The most significant attempt on Hitler's life was from the professional component of his military.

Conscription - Manpower

Small countries have several options to raise a sizeable army. One is to put every able-bodied man under arms. This is how Switzerland managed to stay independent despite repeated attacks throughout history. The Swiss militias were so successful that their fighting style and weapons (especially the halberd) were quickly adopted by their enemies. Many rulers even raised Swiss Guards. The rich Flemish trade cities of the early 14th century raised huge militias that could even defeat armies of knights. The famous Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302) is a good example.

Other options for national defence include membership in a military alliance like NATO, as is the case for countries like Belgium and Luxembourg. Switzerland started out as a military alliance between independent counties.

Also, a wealthy small country could hire a professional mercenary army. This approach does, however, require wealth and men who are willing to hire on. Moreover, it required some means to control the mercenaries if they became unruly.

Conscription - Personnel diversity

Perhaps the kind of people who most strongly want to be in the military are not always the only kind of people who are needed in it. Conscripts come from various backgrounds and might have differing opinions and views. A diverse group is arguably more likely to succeed at any task. Still, the frequently lower morale and experience of conscripts may make them less useful in actual combat situations, especially in wars of aggression. This has been witnessed in the Vietnam War and Soviet-Afghan War.

Personnel diversity might be bad for armies in some ways, by inhibiting communication and increasing social tension, but it also helps different people come together and realize the true nature of an all-inclusive society. For example, it helps them understand the problems of other classes, professions, cultures, and educational levels. Similar arguments have been presented in favor of desegregation in schools. However, in countries that already have desegregated schools (i.e. most of the western world) it is not clear why the armed forces would be more important in bringing different people together than the school system, or could accomplish this in ways in which the school system could not.

Conscription - Conscript quality

The manpower quality of a conscript force is considered poor in many countries. However, in some countries with conscription, the personnel diversity of the conscript force is considered its greatest strength. Admittedly, there are persons who would not be employed by a professional force, but these are a minority, and can be discharged for medical reasons in extreme cases.

However, the conscript force may also receive the best of the youth. Many conscripts are from such social strata that they would have much more lucrative employment or would be studying, were they not obliged to serve. These persons provide talented manpower that can easily be trained for technical and leadership duties. As junior NCO and commissioned officer positions are filled with leadership-trained conscripts, the size and cost of the professional cadre is much smaller. As these ex-conscripts, as reservists, mature and lose their fighting fitness, they can be subsequently retrained and given emergency positions corresponding their civilian expertise. For example, a transport manager who is a reserve officer might serve as a battalion logistics chief during wartime. The leadership-trained conscripts can also be recruited to the regular forces.

Conscription - Political and moral motives

Jean Jacques Rousseau argued vehemently against professional armies, feeling it was the right and privilege of every citizen to participate to the defence of the whole society and a mark of moral decline to leave this business to professionals. He based this view on the development of the Roman republic which came to an end at the same time as the Roman army changed from a conscript to professional force.

The right of the state to conscript its citizens can be founded on Utilitarianism principles. First, we conjecture that the army must never be used for a war of aggression, but only to preserve the state. Second, we conjecture that the occupation by a foreign country would include unbearable conditions, e.g. genocide or destruction of the local way of life. If these two requirements are fulfilled, the greatest good to the greatest number of person may be achieved by sacrificing a number of persons and thus, these persons, the reservists serving in the armed forces, should be willing to make this sacrifice out of altruism. In fact, even without accepting this, the moderate (1-10 %) chance of dying compared to the prospect of living in an occupied country may be preferable.

Conscription can give the conscripts a lasting patriotic view and readiness to die for the good of the whole. Such readiness should be present in a virtuous citizen at all times, but through training, the readiness becomes a grim reality, not rhetoric. This tends to decrease the admiration of the military. On the other hand, the fact that every person understands that a war - any war - means that they themselves, friends, and relatives will be dying or at the least, facing mortal danger, decreases the willingness to enter an armed conflict. In practice, a conscript force cannot be used for an aggressive war for long, as this results in moral degradation both at home and on the front, testified by Afghanistan and Vietnam Wars. This decreases the possibility of the government to engage in foreign adventures, thus preserving peaceful relations to all nations on Earth.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Arguments for conscription", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki