MILOEK
Militärökonomische Forschung und Lehre
Research and Courses in Economics of Defense
E
Online: * August 2012
Limitations / Challenges I
The Swiss Army can basically be compared to other public organizations like the bureaucracy. But there also exist major differences due to the environment of military decisions / actions.
As we have seen before, actors in a Social Market Economy are restricted by rules derived from the two principles determining the economic system: equal rights and the guarantee of the individual existence. While it can not be denied that economies are still a place where fraud or industrial espionage can happen, many will classify the economy as a non-violent place where the majority of actors follows the rules.
In contrast, the participants in (military) conflicts are much less restrained by rules. For example, members of ISAF report that the insurgents in Afghanistan only fight in accordance with guidelines like “Right or wrong, my clan.” or “All is fair in (love and) war.”
These higher risks to the combatants and the civilian population imply that the costs of input factors like soldiers or weapon systems are dramatically different in comparison to the economic relationships in an (approximate) peaceful economy.
forward
back
First Version: September 2012
This Version: November 2012