If 50% of the defense budgets of the 10 biggest nations was given to philanthropic causes, would we see more or less war and violence in the world? This is the ecoTrain question of the week.
So, what kind of money are we talking about here?
I find that with numbers this big, it’s a little hard to wrap your brain around it at all. I decided to go with the ten largest defense budgets rather than the ten largest nations. According to the Stockholm International Peace Institute, the ten largest defense budgets hail from the US, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, UK, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. Of course, as we all know, the US dwarfs the rest of them by a lot. Ringing in at 611 billion for 2016, China doesn’t even come close at a paltry 215 billion. Between the two of them, they constitute almost half of the military spending in the world. All told, the top ten add up to more than 1.2 trillion. That’s a whole lot of money. Every. Single. Year.
Half of that is a little over 620 billion, or just a hair more than the US portion. Goodness gracious. Just think of what we could do with that kind of cash.
Whether or not this affects the levels of war and violence in the world depends on a number of factors. First, it depends on where the money goes instead. Second, it depends on what portion of the military budget is cut.
What do you mean by philanthropic causes? Are we talking about organizations like the Clinton Foundation or the Red Cross or the White Helmets? If that’s the case, nothing changes. Potentially things get worse. I did the math, and it’s unfortunately not enough for a universal basic income for everyone on the planet. Roughly 5 billion adults on the planet. That’s $124 a year. Again, not enough to make a big difference. I think it could potentially make a significant difference, though, if that money was flooded into microloan organizations in the poorest areas of the world. If people have a way to feed their families, there is less war without question. Additionally those microloans actually grow economies in the poorest areas. Healthcare and clean water are other places where that money could make a real difference. Of course simply living with less threat of violence would also surely put a dent in violence considering that a lot of violence is retaliatory in a never ending cycle of death.
What about the military budget? If it’s only being cut in half, then what things are they cutting? Fancy gadgets, planes, missiles, nukes? Salaries? Weapons? Veteran care? Training of insurgents and other armies? Obviously this has an effect. If they’re cutting salaries and veteran care first, which I am wont to think they would, this wouldn’t change anything in regards to the culture of violence around the world.
This actually brings up an important point. The culture of violence. Keeping this culture going doesn’t have to take a lot of money, and it’s important to know that a lot of money is made from this culture of violence. At least in the US, the police are being militarized, so that’s another source of money making and, of course, horrific violence. Something has to be done to shift the cultural proclivity toward violence. That would be a great use of some of that 620 billion. Of course totally scrapping and redesigning law enforcement, including diversity and deescalation trainings are of the utmost importance as well.
In the end I think that I would never protest cutting military budgets. Literally lighting it on fire would be a better use of it. I think the whole concept of war and fighting is absolutely absurd. However, a lot of other steps will need to be taken too ensure that we see an accompanying decrease in violence and war. Spending that money wisely is a central and crucial piece, and that begins with really looking at what the source of the violence is. Ultimately I believe it is patriarchy. Dismantling the patriarchy is an enormous multi-pronged project and perhaps deserves its own whole post, but putting money into projects involving educating young people seems a good use of money. Ultimately, though, violence and war will likely not disappear without the death of the state. This outdated means of dividing and controlling is an integral part of the patriarchal system. Again, that very likely deserves its own post.
Always curious what your thoughts are on war, violence, patriarchy, and anarchy. Power to the people.
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