Defence and security expenditure
The analysis of military expenditure is well established at the heart of security studies. It was the subject of much debate, especially during the Cold War. This was due to the lack of confidence that each side had in its adversary, to disagreements over what should be included in military expenditure and how it should be accounted for, and also to the fact that there were many questions about its economic effects. Were they positive or negative, and to what degree? Wouldn't it be better to devote available resources to other causes (health, education, etc.)? (V. Fontanel J, La globalisation en analyse, L'Harmattan, 2005). Little by little, these debates have died down. The subject has become much less sensitive and confrontational - no doubt due in large part to the moderation of Chinese spending - than it was until the late 1980s. The idea that a reduction in military spending is an absolute necessity has disappeared. The resumption of European spending is seen as inevitable, and is seen as self-evident given the extent to which the profile of this spending has diverged from that of other regions over the last decade, without raising any real questions. This contrasts sharply with the late 1980s, when the general feeling was that military spending was too high. As the Cold War drew to a close, there was a desire to reap the peace dividend and to see military spending fall. Twenty-five years later, after a fairly brief phase of decline, military spending has returned to and even exceeded the levels of the time.
One wonders whether we are not in the process of breaking out of the cycle that has marked defence spending since the Second World War and entering a phase of long, moderate increases (Yves Bélanger and Aude Fleurant, Les dépenses militaires : la fin des cycles, Revue Interventions économiques (en ligne), 42, 2010). This is happening at a time when the world is no longer in a situation of antagonism between the great powers, and the war on terrorism alone cannot explain this surge ....
