What does a people owe to its own defence, and to those who go without?
Countries differ widely in how much of their yearly output they put into armed forces. What does the tradition say a government owes the people it protects, those who serve, and those who bear the cost?
The picture
What the numbers show, read from the Data library each time the page opens.
How to read the chart above, and the words it uses.
How to read the data
The figure is what a government spends on its armed forces compared with a year’s national output. A higher share can reflect a threat, a recent war or a choice; it cannot tell you whether the country is safer.
Key terms
Military expenditure
Spending on armed forces: pay, equipment, operations and military aid.
GDP
Gross domestic product: the value of what a country produces in a year.
SIPRI
The Stockholm institute that estimates these figures under one definition.
Who has a stake
Each interest, then readings from the Catholic library and the Classics library that bear on it, oldest first. Choose a group to read.
Safety from invasion and violence, and a government able to keep order and honour its promises to allies.
Fair pay and treatment, a clear and lawful cause for which they are asked to risk their lives, and care for the wounded and for the families of the fallen.
That the money is raised fairly and spent wisely, and that schools, clinics and the poor are not left without in order to arm.
Security that does not depend on being feared, an end to arms races that make every border more dangerous, and room to settle disputes without force.
For discussion
How much may a people ask of its taxpayers to be safe, and how is that to be weighed against what schools, clinics and the poor would otherwise receive?
What does a government owe to those it sends to fight, and to their families, whatever the cause?
Can a country make itself safe without making its neighbours less safe, and who must move first?
