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Courtesy of the Telegraph.
Last week, the cafe where I usually take my morning coffee bade farewell to one of its waiters – an industrious young guy who was returning to his native Greece. I hope you are not fleeing Brexit Britain, I ventured. “Not at all,” he said. “I am going back to do my military service, as I must.” I was obviously vaguely aware that they still have conscription in Greece – one of six European countries that maintain compulsory military service – but it was nevertheless still something of an eye-opener. It seemed strangely out of kilter with the licence of the times that this man had no choice in the matter but to return home and do his time. Or is it? Italy’s new interior minister and deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, says he’s thinking of reintroducing it to deal with a wayward youth. “Above and beyond 'rights' I would like to see a return to there being 'duties'", he said last weekend. Lots of Italians agree with him. We are doing well to study the costs, ways and timings for evaluating if, how and when to reintroduce – for a few months – obligatory military and civil service to our boys and girls.
Nor is the sentiment confined to political firebrands such as Salvini. Sweden recently reintroduced the draft, while nearly two decades after it was scrapped, President Macron has vowed to plough ahead with a campaign promise to bring back some form of compulsory national service in France, albeit in watered-down form. Less than eight years after it was abolished, Germany too is discussing the possibility after a poll showed a clear majority of the public in favour. As a political idea, national service is plainly making something of a comeback.
But not, beyond some high-profile supporters such as Prince Harry and Michael Caine, here in Britain. A quick trawl of Google reveals that few if any mainstream British politicians advocate such an approach. This should not surprise; there is no good military or economic argument for it. Indeed, the British armed forces are on the whole strongly opposed to bringing it back. Plainly they would like more resource, but in principle, a highly trained professional army is much preferred to the idea of acting as a kind of general boot camp for younger cohorts. The intellectual and economic case against compulsion is in any case long established. The Eighteenth Century British economist, Adam Smith, wrote of an “irresistible superiority which a well-regulated standing [all-volunteer] army has over a militia [conscription]”, based on the idea that not everyone makes a good soldier. It therefore makes sense to pay those that are inclined to soldiery to defend the realm in our stead, leaving the rest of us to pursue more gainful work.
