Globally relevant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globally relevant - Essay Example This results in no disarmament at all. Also, certain counties have threats from other countries. Such countries have, therefore, a national interest in having weapons. Countries that have weapons are facing a lot of pressure from other countries. The powerful countries of the world are co-operating the least in the movement against weapons. Such countries have the capacity to create weapons of mass destruction that include nuclear and biological weapons. However, poorer countries are also gaining access to such weapons. That is continuously giving chances to terrorists to strengthen themselves and create big disasters. Further, many countries allot a great portion of their budgets to making or acquiring of weapons. The same amount can also be spent on education, environment or other development projects, but it does not happen due to the requirement of a strong military. There is also very limited gun control in many countries which is why the percentage of gun violence related incid ents is very high. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s recent trends summary, world military expenditure in 2010 was estimated to have reached $1.63 trillion at 2010 prices. This is almost 2.6 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) or $236 for each person in the world. Out of the total military expenditure in the whole world, the expenditure by the US accounts for 41% of it. SIPRI also found out that the major portion of the total military expenditure in the world is made by large countries. 15 major countries of the world spend 81.8% of the total military expenditure. An important point is that the world faced a very bad economic depression in 2008 hence resulting in many countries cutting their spending in various sectors. However, the spending in the military sector is continuously on a rise. It does not seem to be justified but it has valid reasons. (GlobalIssues) Just before the time the depression arrived, it was not reasonably foreseeable. It could not have been expected that a crisis of such magnitude was about to hit. Many countries were happy with their economic growths and they had easy access to credit. They had their fixed or pre-planned foreign policy objectives, the knowledge of available resources were satisfactory, the peacekeeping operations were expected to go as normal and the policies were fixed. Countries like China and India saw a boom in the economies and they increased the spending on military. Also, the high prices of minerals and fossil fuels enabled quite a few countries to increase military expenditure. However, after the 2008 financial crisis had hit, military spending still appears to have increased. It has been observed by SIPRI that some nations like China and India did not face a financial crisis but continued to grow. As the financial crisis hit big countries like the US, the governments responded by employing expansionary fiscal policies according to which they increased the government expenditure. Among these expenditures which were made to counter the crisis, many new military projects were started too which is why there has been an increase in the total military spending. Most importantly, many countries have continued to put the strategic and geopolitical concerns above other matters. If these concerns demanded an increase in military expenditures, the governments did not hesitate to increase the spending despite dire economic straits. In contrast,