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Serious question: How does a country that embraces 'degrowth' defend itself militarily from a country that is still working on the high production paradigm?

danieldrehmer 14y ago
The same way France has always defended itself.
- jonathanleane 14y ago
  Not sure if you're being funny? France has one of the highest rates of productivity per capita [0] and is the 5th highest military spender in the world [1]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_e...
  - calpaterson 14y ago
    I think it's a joke based on the fact that was a relatively rich county in the 20th Century and had a poor record on self-defence. France was actually considered to have the strongest military in Europe in the late 1930's, but it didn't pan out for them (bad management).
- arethuza 14y ago
  Looking at their long history I would say that the French have been as good as anyone, and better than most, at defending themselves. Of course, they lost to Nazi Germany, but unlike us Brits they didn't have a Channel to hide behind - after all it mainly took the huge sacrifice of the Soviets to eventually defeat the Nazis.
Zakharov 14y ago
Nukes? The French have a lot of them.
- arethuza 14y ago
  That was pretty much why Britain was so keen to develop nuclear weapons - they are actually relatively inexpensive compared to the equivalent number of armoured divisions.
- jonathanleane 14y ago
  Having nukes works well as a deterrent to being nuked, but using them (even defensively) could only ever be as a last resort. It's not hard to see how a country with nukes defending itself from a country with nukes AND a conventional military could be forced to make a whole lot of concessions.

danieldrehmer 14y ago

The same way France has always defended itself.

jonathanleane 14y ago
Not sure if you're being funny? France has one of the highest rates of productivity per capita [0] and is the 5th highest military spender in the world [1]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_hour_worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_e...
- calpaterson 14y ago
  I think it's a joke based on the fact that was a relatively rich county in the 20th Century and had a poor record on self-defence. France was actually considered to have the strongest military in Europe in the late 1930's, but it didn't pan out for them (bad management).
arethuza 14y ago
Looking at their long history I would say that the French have been as good as anyone, and better than most, at defending themselves. Of course, they lost to Nazi Germany, but unlike us Brits they didn't have a Channel to hide behind - after all it mainly took the huge sacrifice of the Soviets to eventually defeat the Nazis.

Zakharov 14y ago

Nukes? The French have a lot of them.

arethuza 14y ago
That was pretty much why Britain was so keen to develop nuclear weapons - they are actually relatively inexpensive compared to the equivalent number of armoured divisions.
jonathanleane 14y ago
Having nukes works well as a deterrent to being nuked, but using them (even defensively) could only ever be as a last resort. It's not hard to see how a country with nukes defending itself from a country with nukes AND a conventional military could be forced to make a whole lot of concessions.