Titre : | How does cooperation affect Strategic culture, a Belgian perspective |
Auteurs : | Matthias Tindemans, Auteur ; Malena Britz |
Type de document : | Thesis |
Editeur : | Brussels [Belgique] : Royal Military Academy, 2018 |
Article en page(s) : | 65 |
Langues: | Anglais |
Catégories : |
6.20 Relations internationales > Politique internationale > Coopération internationale |
Résumé : |
Average defence spending in Europe has fallen to 1.7 per cent of GDP and the proportion of budgets that goes on overheads has soared at the expense of training and procurement
of new equipment. On top of that the cost of increasingly sophisticated weapons has risen far ahead of inflation. As a result, Europeans buy less and less equipment and the number of soldiers ready for battle has shrunk dramatically (Valasek, 2011). Belgium is among these European countries struggling to meet its military obligations. Why is it so difficult? It is a small and densely populated country, with an area of 30,528 square kilometres and a population of 11 million. Healthcare in Belgium is ranked number 4 by the Euro Health Consumer Index (Björnberg, 2017) and 16th on the global prosperity index (Legatum Institute Foundation, 2017), indicating it has a well-functioning social security system and law and order is upheld. Education is still among the best in the world according to the OECD’s Pisa rankings. (OECD, 2017) Although it has no natural resources, a small country such as Belgium can afford such generous public spending and social system by adding value. The country needs to import natural resources, add value, and export to the world whatever product or service it can offer. Hence, the country is very dependent on exports, illustrated by the 11th place as largest exporter in the world in 2016 (World Trade Organization, 2017). Export is the main driver that allows for the expensive social system as it accounts for 81% of the Belgian GDP. International relations, access to natural resources, and enabling exports are thus the number one economic strategy for this country (World Trade Organization, 2017). Global instability is the major factor that could threaten trade relations, and exports in particular. Belgium needs other countries to be stable in order to have solid trade relations and to be able to sell products over there. The country needs free access of the global commons in order to transport its goods to foreign markets. |
Promotion : | 153 SSMW |
En ligne : | http://units.mil.intra/sites/UBDef-BUDef/_layouts/DocIdRedir.aspx?ID=UBDEF-6-21850 |
Exemplaires (1)
Code-barres | Cote | Support | Localisation | Section | Disponibilité |
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120284R | RMA Mast SSMW 153/53 | Thesis | Royal Military Academy | Bibliothèque ERM | Exclu du prêt |