Military Culture and Institutional Trust: Evidence from Conscription Reforms in Europe

Bove, V. Michael; Leo, Riccardo Di; Giani, Marco

doi:10.1111/ajps.12745

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…So gab es etwa im Rahmen der Wehrpflicht genau solche Erfahrungen von erzwungener Solidarität, und oft wird die Vermutung geäußert, dass mit der Abschaffung der militärischen Dienstpflicht in vielen Ländern eine wichtige Quelle von Bürgersinn verloren gegangen sei. Eine empirische Studie, die den Einfluss der Abschaffung der militärischen Dienstpflicht in 15 europäischen Ländern auf politische Einstellungen untersucht, kommt jedoch zu dem überraschenden Ergebnis, dass eine militärische Dienstpflicht im Gegenteil zu einer Verringerung des Vertrauens in demokratische Institutionen führt (Bove, di Leo und Giani 2022). Auch eine zivile Dienstpflicht könnte auf Widerstand bei den Betroffenen stoßen und so ihre Einstellungen gegenüber der Gemeinschaft letztlich verschlechtern, statt sie zu verbessern.…”

Section: Das Demokratietheoretische Argumentunclassified

Die allgemeine Dienstpflicht: Eine Kritik

Cassee,

Hohl

2023

ZfPP

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Dieser Beitrag kritisiert aktuelle Vorschläge zur Einführung einer allgemeinen Dienstpflicht. Vier Argumente für einen verpflichtenden Dienst zugunsten der Allgemeinheit werden diskutiert und zurückgewiesen: Das paternalistische Argument, das sich auf den Nutzen der Dienstpflicht für die Dienstpflichtigen selbst beruft, scheitert aus prinzipiellen Erwägungen. Das sozialstaatliche Argument, das die Dienstpflicht durch ihre Rolle bei der Erfüllung sozialstaatlicher Aufgaben gerechtfertigt sieht, ist wenig überzeugend, solange es mildere Mittel gibt, diese Aufgaben zu erfüllen. Das Argument über Gemeinschaftlichkeit, das die Dienstpflicht mit einer Konzeption des guten Lebens in Gemeinschaft begründet, scheitert an seiner Unvereinbarkeit mit einem vernünftigen Pluralismus der Lebensentwürfe. Und schließlich ist auch die These zurückzuweisen, dass eine allgemeine Dienstpflicht notwendig sei, um die gesellschaftlichen Voraussetzungen einer funktionierenden Demokratie zu gewährleisten. Eine Diskussion vermeintlicher Analogien beschließt den Aufsatz.

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Section: Das Demokratietheoretische Argumentunclassified

Die allgemeine Dienstpflicht: Eine Kritik

Cassee,

Hohl

2023

ZfPP

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“…Many European countries suspended mandatory conscription after the Cold War, and especially between 2000 and 2010. However, with the changing security situation in Europe, more and more countries are considering the re-introduction of the draft (Bove et al ., 2023). That is why, it is important to evaluate the impact of conscription on draftees, including its effect on fertility outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of military service on fertility: evidence from the 2001 draft suspension in Spain

Milovanska-Farrington

2023

JES

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PurposeMany European countries suspended mandatory conscription after the Cold War, and especially between 2000 and 2010. However, with the changing security situation in Europe, more and more countries are considering the re-introduction of the draft. That is why, it is important to evaluate the impact of conscription on draftees, including its effect on fertility outcomes. Additionally, fertility is of particular interest because birth rates have been below replacement levels in most European countries at least in the last two decades. This, combined with the increase in life expectancy, has contributed to aging population and raises concerns about the future economic prospects and sustainability of the continent. Military service could be related to fertility in several ways. Compulsory service for men would affect the marriage market and subsequently child-bearing outcomes. For example, men who serve in the military would have to delay higher education at least by a year, given that they plan to continue their education after high school. One possibility is that this leads to older men meeting younger women if partners meet at college. Alternatively, in case the partners know each other prior to the draft, service could delay marriage by up to a year due to the conscription, postponing planning and having children, and potentially having fewer children as women might be less able or less willing to have a child after a certain age. Finally, some men who plan and would otherwise continue their education might choose to not do so or to further postpone it once they disattach from studying during their service. For some men, this might influence their marital and subsequent fertility outcomes. In either of these scenarios, a draft or its suspension is likely to be connected to fertility.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the effect of the suspension of the draft in Spain in December 2001 on three fertility outcomes of men that would have been drafted in the absence of the suspension. The author performs the analysis in a difference-in-differences framework. Potential concerns and policy implications are also discussed.FindingsThe findings suggest that after the suspension of the draft, individuals started to have their first child earlier given that they decide to have children. Consistent with the overall time trend, they became less likely to have a child and started to have fewer children. However, the age at birth of the first child decreased while the number of children and the likelihood of having a child increased for men relative to women, after compared to before the suspension of the mandatory draft.Originality/valueThe author extends prior literature by investigating the effect of the abolition of compulsory military service in Spain in December 2001 on fertility. This is novel is several ways. First, to the best of the author’s knowledge, previous literature has examined the effect of this Spanish reform only on labor market outcomes prior to men's conscription. Second, even for other countries that terminated the compulsory draft, fertility has been under-studied, providing an opportunity for further exploration. Third, this analysis is based on rich Census data, representative of the population in Spain. Finally, given the inconclusive findings of previous studies for other countries and the proposed re-introduction of the draft in some parts of Europe, additional evidence of the effect of the conscription has important policy implications necessary for the evaluation of future military service policy decisions.

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“…We leverage the fact that military service is mandatory in Israel, as well as the fact that age determines eligibility for mandatory military service, and employ a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to analyze almost 50 years of the Israel National Election Studies (INES) (Israel National Election Studies, 1977-2019. Following recent agebased RDD applications in political science (Bove et al, 2022;Cavaille & Marshall, 2019), we compare the partisan preferences of survey respondents who were just too young to participate in the Yom Kippur war (i.e., below the age of 18 in 1973) with the political preferences of survey respondents just old enough to participate in the war (i.e., above the age of 18 in 1973).…”

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confidence: 99%

War-Time Military Service Can Affect Partisan Preferences

Getmansky

Weiss

2022

Comparative Political Studies

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Does war-time military service affect partisan preferences? We argue that military service increases the salience and potential costs of war. Therefore, soldiers who serve during mismanaged wars will associate the ruling party with incompetence and be less likely to support the ruling party in the future. To test our argument, we analyze almost 50 years of Israel National Election Studies. Employing a regression discontinuity design, we show that compared with respondents who were too young to serve in the Yom Kippur war, respondents just old enough to serve report lower support for the Labor party well after the war ended. This effect is likely driven by soldiers’ unwillingness to support a party they associate with security incompetence. We further show that the negative effect of military service does not materialize in well-managed wars, contributing to the literature on the political consequences of war and attitude formation.

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Military Culture and Institutional Trust: Evidence from Conscription Reforms in Europe

Cited by 11 publications

References 61 publications

Die allgemeine Dienstpflicht: Eine Kritik

Die allgemeine Dienstpflicht: Eine Kritik

Effect of military service on fertility: evidence from the 2001 draft suspension in Spain

War-Time Military Service Can Affect Partisan Preferences

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