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Standing armies create structural problems. Many countries in Asia are constantly having civilian governments being overthrown by the army.

by rayiner 10mo ago

adgjlsfhk1 10mo ago
Not having standing armies also creates structural problems (mostly getting invaded). There are only 21 countries without a standing army, and they're almost all micronations with <200k population (mostly tiny islands). Iceland is the only one of them with a GDP per capita worth mentioning, but it's also part of Nato, the largest military alliance in the world.
- mullingitover 10mo ago
  Switzerland has no standing army and they have a respectable GDP. You could pull off a “Switzerland but with defensive nuclear second strike capability” model in this era and it’d work fine.
  - adgjlsfhk1 10mo ago
    Switzerland has a standing army with ~150k active personel, upon which they spend 1% GDP, and which includes a half year conscription https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces.
    - mullingitover 10mo ago
      Right, but it’s a citizen militia rather than a permanent professional army.
      - qcnguy 10mo ago
        It's a permanent professional army, where are you getting this stuff? Switzerland has an air force and everything. They also have a large trained citizen militia but it's supported by a backbone of a professional standing army.
        mullingitover 10mo ago
        > They also have a large trained citizen militia but it's supported by a backbone of a professional standing army. Less than 10% are full timers, the vast majority are conscripts and volunteers. Even officers generally aren't full timers[1]. All I'm saying is, there's a spectrum of 'Complete citizen militia, as envisioned by the framers of the US Constitution' all the way over to 'Standing army as it exists in the US today', and Switzerland is obviously much closer to the former than the latter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces#Personnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces#Personnel
impossiblefork 10mo ago
This is why we originally instituted mandatory military service here in Sweden. To ensure that the army isn't representative of some special class, e.g. the nobility or the burghers etc.

Standing armies create structural problems. Many countries in Asia are constantly having civilian governments being overthrown by the army.

by rayiner 10mo ago

Standing armies create structural problems. Many countries in Asia are constantly having civilian governments being overthrown by the army.

adgjlsfhk1 10mo ago

Not having standing armies also creates structural problems (mostly getting invaded). There are only 21 countries without a standing army, and they're almost all micronations with <200k population (mostly tiny islands). Iceland is the only one of them with a GDP per capita worth mentioning, but it's also part of Nato, the largest military alliance in the world.

mullingitover 10mo ago
Switzerland has no standing army and they have a respectable GDP. You could pull off a “Switzerland but with defensive nuclear second strike capability” model in this era and it’d work fine.
- adgjlsfhk1 10mo ago
  Switzerland has a standing army with ~150k active personel, upon which they spend 1% GDP, and which includes a half year conscription https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces.
  - mullingitover 10mo ago
    Right, but it’s a citizen militia rather than a permanent professional army.
    - qcnguy 10mo ago
      It's a permanent professional army, where are you getting this stuff? Switzerland has an air force and everything. They also have a large trained citizen militia but it's supported by a backbone of a professional standing army.
      - mullingitover 10mo ago
        > They also have a large trained citizen militia but it's supported by a backbone of a professional standing army. Less than 10% are full timers, the vast majority are conscripts and volunteers. Even officers generally aren't full timers[1]. All I'm saying is, there's a spectrum of 'Complete citizen militia, as envisioned by the framers of the US Constitution' all the way over to 'Standing army as it exists in the US today', and Switzerland is obviously much closer to the former than the latter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces#Personnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces#Personnel

impossiblefork 10mo ago

This is why we originally instituted mandatory military service here in Sweden. To ensure that the army isn't representative of some special class, e.g. the nobility or the burghers etc.