military spending essay topics

Presentations made painless

• Get Premium

129 Military Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

The military is a vital component of any country's defense and security infrastructure. It is responsible for protecting the nation from external threats, maintaining peace and stability, and providing humanitarian assistance in times of crisis. Military personnel undergo rigorous training and sacrifice a great deal to serve their country.

Writing essays on military topics can be a challenging yet rewarding task. To help you get started, here are 129 military essay topic ideas and examples:

The role of the military in national security

The impact of technology on modern warfare

The ethics of drone warfare

The history of military strategy

The importance of military leadership

Women in the military

The impact of PTSD on military personnel

Military spending and its implications for national budget

The role of the military in disaster response

The future of warfare: cyber warfare

The challenges of integrating new technology into the military

The role of the military in peacekeeping operations

The impact of military interventions in foreign countries

The effectiveness of military training programs

Military intelligence and its role in national security

The impact of climate change on military operations

The history of military innovation

The role of the military in counterterrorism efforts

Military recruitment and retention strategies

The impact of social media on military operations

The ethics of military intervention in humanitarian crises

The impact of military culture on mental health

The role of the military in border security

The history of military technology

The impact of military deployments on families

Military justice and the rule of law

The role of the military in maintaining global stability

The impact of military bases on local communities

The challenges of military logistics

Military medical advancements and their impact on society

The role of the military in combating human trafficking

The impact of military propaganda on public opinion

The future of military recruitment and training

The ethics of military surveillance

The impact of military culture on gender equality

The role of the military in disaster preparedness

The history of military tactics

The impact of military technology on civilian life

The challenges of military cybersecurity

Military education and its impact on leadership development

The role of the military in protecting human rights

The impact of military deployments on mental health

The history of military intelligence

The role of the military in combating terrorism

The impact of military culture on diversity and inclusion

Military oversight and accountability

The role of the military in responding to natural disasters

The impact of military technology on global conflict

The challenges of military diplomacy

Military recruitment and diversity initiatives

The role of the military in promoting democracy

The impact of military propaganda on public perception

The future of military technology

The ethics of military experimentation

The impact of military culture on mental health stigma

Military education and its impact on career advancement

The role of the military in responding to cyber attacks

The impact of military deployments on family dynamics

The history of military leadership

The role of the military in combating organized crime

The impact of military technology on civilian infrastructure

The challenges of military intelligence gathering

Military justice and human rights

The role of the military in combating human rights abuses

The impact of military culture on mental health treatment

The history of military strategy and tactics

The role of the military in promoting gender equality

The impact of military technology on global security

The challenges of military logistics in remote locations

Military medical advancements and their impact on public health

The impact of military propaganda on public perception of war

The ethics of military surveillance and privacy

The impact of military culture on diversity and inclusion initiatives

Military oversight and accountability in conflict zones

The role of the military in responding to natural disasters and humanitarian crises

The impact of military technology on global conflict resolution

The challenges of military diplomacy in a complex geopolitical landscape

Military recruitment and diversity initiatives in the 21st century

The role of the military in promoting democracy and human rights

The impact of military propaganda on public perception of war and conflict

The future of military technology and its impact on global security

The ethics of military experimentation and innovation

The impact of military culture on mental health stigma and treatment

Military education and its role in shaping future leaders

The role of the military in responding to cyber attacks and cyber warfare

The impact of military deployments on family dynamics and relationships

The history of military leadership and its impact on modern military operations

The role of the military in combating organized crime and terrorism

The impact of military technology on civilian infrastructure and society

The challenges of military intelligence gathering in a rapidly changing world

Military justice and human rights violations in conflict zones

The role of the military in promoting gender equality and diversity

The impact of military technology on global security and stability

The challenges of military logistics in remote and hostile environments

Military medical advancements and their impact on public health and safety

The role of the military in combating human trafficking and modern slavery

The future of military recruitment and training in the digital age

The ethics of military surveillance and privacy in the era of big data

The impact of military culture on diversity and inclusion in the armed forces

Military oversight and accountability in conflict zones and peacekeeping operations

The impact of military technology on global conflict resolution and peacebuilding

The challenges of military diplomacy in a complex and interconnected world

Military recruitment and diversity initiatives to build a more inclusive armed forces

The role of the military in promoting democracy and human rights around the world

The future of military technology and its implications for national security

The ethics of military experimentation and innovation in the pursuit of military superiority

The impact of military culture on mental health stigma and treatment within the armed forces

Military education and leadership development programs to cultivate the next generation of military leaders

The role of the military in responding to cyber threats and cyber warfare in the digital age

The impact of military deployments on military families and communities

The history of military leadership and its influence on modern military operations

The role of the military in combating transnational organized crime and terrorism

The challenges of military intelligence gathering in an era of rapid technological advancements

Military justice and human rights violations in conflict zones and peacekeeping operations

The role of the military in promoting gender equality and diversity within the armed forces

The challenges of military logistics in remote and austere environments

The future of military recruitment and training in an increasingly digital and interconnected world

The ethics of military surveillance and privacy in the age of information warfare

The impact of military culture on diversity and inclusion initiatives within the armed forces

These essay topics cover a wide range of military-related issues and can serve as a starting point for your research and writing. Whether you are interested in the history of military strategy, the impact of technology on modern warfare, or the role of the military in promoting democracy and human rights, there is a topic on this list that is sure to pique your interest. Good luck with your essays!

Want to create a presentation now?

Instantly Create A Deck

Let PitchGrade do this for me

Hassle Free

We will create your text and designs for you. Sit back and relax while we do the work.

Explore More Content

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service

© 2023 Pitchgrade

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Government & Policy

How Military Spending Affects the Economy

Ariel Courage is an experienced editor, researcher, and former fact-checker. She has performed editing and fact-checking work for several leading finance publications, including The Motley Fool and Passport to Wall Street.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has excellent data on military spending by nation. According to its research, the five biggest spenders in 2019 were the United States, China, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Together, these countries made up around 60% of global military spending.  

In 2019, U.S. military expenditure increased by almost 5.3% to $732 billion. China increased its military spending by 5.1%, India increased its spending by 6.8%, Russia increased it by 4.5%, and Saudi Arabia decreased it by 16%.  

As with any government spending, these investments have an impact on the economies of the nations that make them.

The Why of Military Spending

Military spending is one area where there is no private solution. No single corporation or group of citizens is motivated and trustworthy enough to take financial responsibility for maintaining a nation's military.

Key Takeaways

• Every dollar spent on defense is a dollar not spent on other public services.
• On the other hand, dollars spent on the military wind up in the private sector as payment for goods and services the military requires.
• Military spending may skew civilian technology development, but talent and applications flow both ways.

Adam Smith , a father of free-market economics, identified the defense of society as one of the primary functions of government and a justification for reasonable taxation.     The government is acting on behalf of the public to ensure that the military is capable of defending the nation.

In practice, defending the nation expands to defending a nation’s strategic interests. And, the whole concept of “sufficient” is up for debate in any democracy.

The Hole That Debt Built

Capital is finite, and capital going into one spending category means less money for something else.

This fact becomes more urgent when we consider that any government spending that exceeds revenues results in a deficit, adding to the national debt . A ballooning national debt has an economic impact on everyone. As the debt grows, the interest expense of the debt grows and the cost of borrowing increases due to the risk that increased debt represents. In theory, the increased debt will eventually drag on economic growth and drive taxes higher.

The Cost of Borrowing

The U.S. has historically enjoyed generous debt terms from domestic and international lenders. That tends to reduce political pressure to cut military spending in order to reduce the deficit.    

Some advocates for decreased military spending might tie it to a real or potential increase in the mortgage rates people pay, given the relationship between Treasury yields and commercial lending.   This reasoning holds and military spending does sit as a large percentage of discretionary spending.     

In other nations, particularly ones that are still developing economically, a focus on military spending often means foregoing other important priorities. Many nations have a standing military but an unreliable public infrastructure, from hospitals to roads to schools. North Korea is an extreme example of what an unrelenting focus on military spending can do to the standard of living for the general population.

The generous debt terms that the U.S. enjoys are far from universal, so the trade-off between military spending and public infrastructure is more painful for many nations.

Employment and Military Spending

Jobs are a big part of the economic impact of military spending. In addition to supporting the troops, military spending creates a considerable infrastructure to support the active-duty personnel.

Then there are the private businesses that spring up as a result of the military spending, including everything from weapons manufacturers to the restaurants that pop up near military bases.

Public vs. Private

A free-market economist would point out that the public dollars supporting those may be sucking the equivalent number of jobs—or more—out of the private economy due to the taxation required to create them.

It really comes down to whether or not you believe a standing military is a necessity. If it is, then some jobs will need to be sacrificed in the private sector to make that happen.

Technological Developments

One argument for the negative economic impact of military spending is that it diverts critical talent and technical skills towards military research and development.

Guns and Butter

This famous model illustrates the balance between military and civilian spending priorities.

On the other hand, technology and talent flow back and forth between military and civilian roles. Military research has been vital to the creation of the microwave, the internet, and global positioning systems (GPS), among other applications. We now have drones taking wedding photos and, at least in tests, delivering packages for Amazon.com. Much of the expense of creating the basic technology was covered through military spending.

The guns and butter curve is a classic illustration of how there is an opportunity cost to every expenditure. If you believe a standing military is a necessity for a nation, the size of that military can be disputed but its existence cannot.

The economic cost of defense spending shows up in the national debt and in a dislocation of potential jobs from the private sector to the public. There is an economic distortion of any industry that the military relies on as resources are diverted to produce better fighter planes and weapons.

All of these costs are necessary for a nation to bear if they are to defend themselves. We give up some butter to have guns.

The Big Question

The real question is what an “adequate” amount of military spending is, given that every extra dollar spent above the necessary level is a loss to public spending on any other purpose.

In a democracy, that issue is debated by publicly elected officials and changes from year to year. In recent years, military spending in the U.S. as a percentage of the overall budget has been declining as military engagements abroad wind down.  

In non-democratic nations, however, the level of adequate spending is decided by a select few and may come at an even greater cost to the country’s citizens.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. " Military Expenditure ."

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. " Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019 ," Pages 2-3.

The Library of Economics and Liberty. " An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations–Book V, Chapter l ."

The Library of Economics and Liberty. " An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations–Book IV, Chapter 5 ."

TreasuryDirect. " Summary Schedules of Federal Debt – Daily, Unaudited ."

U.S. Government Accountability Office. " Action Is Needed to Address the Federal Government's Fiscal Future–Highlights ."

U.S. Department of the Treasury. " Interest Rates - Frequently Asked Questions ."

Congressional Budget Office. " Discretionary Spending in 2019 ."

Government Publishing Office. " Budget 2019: Contents of the Historical Tables ," Pages 58-59.

The World Bank. " Military Expenditure (% of General Government Expenditure) - United States ."

• Terms of Service
• Editorial Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Your Privacy Choices

Understanding the Defense Budget

2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength

Assessing the Global Operating Environment

Assessing Threats to U.S. Vital Interests

An Assessment of U.S. Military Power

Topical Essays

About the Index

Introduction

• Executive Summary

Contributors and Acknowledgments

• Methodology
• Previous Indexes and Essays

Download the Report

Heritage.org

Jan 24, 2024 26 min read

Frederico Bartels

Like the familiar drawings that appear to be a duck or a rabbit to different people, when people talk about the defense budget, it often seems they might be talking about completely different things. There are many different accounts and permutations of what could properly be considered the U.S. “defense budget.” From a narrow view of the direct resources under the control of the Department of Defense (DOD) to a much broader view of discretionary versus mandatory spending, many nuances need to be considered if one is to have an informed discussion or understanding of the U.S. defense budget.

This essay is meant to provide a better understanding of the resources that are dedicated to our national defense. The goal is not to give a definitive answer, but rather to give people the information they need to arrive at conclusions that are as well-informed as possible. In addition to definitional elements, where individuals are located within the U.S. national security apparatus plays a key role in how they define the defense budget.

All of these perspectives, however, should use the Constitution of the United States as their starting point.

The Constitutional Foundation

In the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, the Founders state that the government has the responsibility to “provide for the common defence.” 1 This is restated in Article 1, Section 8, as one of Congress’s enumerated powers. 2 The Heritage Foundation’s Guide to the Constitution calls this purpose “obvious—after all, it was by this means the United States came into being.” 3

The crucial political question is: How we are to define what it means to provide for the common defense, how much “defense is enough,” and how much we as a nation are willing to pay for that defense? The constitutional need to provide for the common defense is the starting point for understanding the role of the armed forces within the American political context, but it is not the final word by any means. What is clear is that defense—unlike many of the other activities that are currently undertaken by the federal government—is a fundamental constitutional responsibility.

Providing a common defense is understood in the Constitution as a function that can be performed only by the Union and thus resides unambiguously at the federal level. Many governmental functions, such as the provision of public security by localities or the state-level provision of identity cards, can and should be conducted and administered at lower levels of government. Common defense is not such a function.

Many organizations at the federal level have a role in our national defense, and there are substantial differences in what could be considered the defense budget that reflect the perspective of the organization or person talking about the defense budget. Many countries, for example, consider expenditures associated with support to veterans as part of their defense budget, while the United States has a separate Department of Veterans Affairs that is not usually considered part of the defense budget.

What Is the Defense Budget?

When discussing the defense budget, one should always begin by defining the terms being used. Depending on who is talking about the defense budget and the message being highlighted, different numbers can be used. In many cases, the choices being offered depend on how the specific institutions define the terms, and the implications are not immediately obvious.

Even within the executive branch, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Defense have different concepts of the “defense budget.” Congress has still another definition because it is organized by committees and focuses its attention on the different appropriations and authorization bills.

There is an initial division between discretionary and mandatory spending in the defense budget just as there is in the overall federal budget. Discretionary spending is the element of the budget that is annually debated and appropriated by Congress. Mandatory spending, on the other hand, is not debated annually and is defined largely by formulas that govern the various benefit programs operated by the federal government such as Social Security and Medicare. 4 The defense budget includes both mandatory and discretionary funding, but most defense dollars are classified as discretionary.

Table 2 contains different possible combinations of what could be considered colloquially as the “defense budget.” This table is based on OMB’s projections and categories, which can provide a fuller picture because it incorporates both mandatory and discretionary spending and contains data on every government agency. Realistically, the defense budget for fiscal year (FY) 2024, for instance, could be said to be as low as $842 billion if you focus just on discretionary spending controlled by the Department of Defense or as high as $1.2 trillion if you include Veterans Affairs and other possible mandatory spending.

Of the many possible ways to consider the defense budget, it is important to highlight a few of the ones that are most commonly used in the executive branch. The first one, known as 050, encompasses the DOD, Atomic Energy Defense Activities within the Department of Energy, 5 and other defense-related activities. This category was utilized in the Budget Control Act of 2011 to cap discretionary spending. It was also used in the legislation that raised the debt ceiling in 2024. Another important category, known as 051, is the DOD’s portion of the national defense budget within OMB tables. It constitutes the major portion of 050 but is usually discussed and debated separately from the other functions within the category and is often referenced as the “defense budget.”

Within the DOD itself, different sets of numbers are used to define the defense budget. As one would expect, the first is the 051 category because these are the funds under the DOD’s control and include both mandatory and discretionary spending. Category 051 numbers can be described as the defense budget, and in many reports and news stories, these are the numbers that are most often used. Table 3 shows the budget for the Department of Defense broken down by military department, which is different from the OMB data in Table 2.

One additional set of numbers that is commonly discussed and characterized as the defense budget is the funding appropriated by Congress. Because the Constitution specifies that Congress must appropriate every dollar that is withdrawn from the Treasury, appropriations bills are among the most crucial pieces of legislation that are passed in any fiscal year.

The Department of Defense receives resources mainly through two distinct appropriations bills: Defense Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations. This division reflects the different public law titles and the characteristics of appropriated dollars that compose the defense budget.

The defense appropriations bill includes military personnel; operations and maintenance, procurement; research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E); and revolving funds as shown in Table 4. Military construction appropriations include mainly military construction funds and family housing. Table 4 depicts funding (both appropriated and projected) for various fiscal years broken down by public law title.

Beyond the appropriations bill, the same resources that the Department of Defense receives are also authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill that has been passed and has grown in length for more than 60 consecutive years. The DOD is one of the very few federal departments that reliably has its funding both authorized and appropriated. 6 The NDAA is sometimes referred to as a defense policy bill because it does not actually appropriate dollars to the DOD; it sets policy and establishes limitations on how the appropriated dollars will be used through the fiscal year. The NDAA includes important measures that have both financial and practical implications for how the nation provides for the common defense.

Altogether, there are several ways to talk about and represent the defense budget. The first thing that an informed reader should do is understand who is communicating so he or she can understand what that person means by the defense budget.

It is also important to know that defense is not the biggest item in the federal budget; entitlements have that distinction. 7 Nor is defense spending the primary factor driving the nation’s financial problems, especially the explosive growth in public debt and the annual federal budget deficit. In addition, current plans have the relative burden of defense decreasing over time as the economy grows. Understanding the broader context of the federal budget is therefore very important when considering the defense budget.

The Burden of Defense on the Federal Budget

As in all things related to the budget, it is important to understand the burden of any financial expense relative to the available resources and the importance associated with the tasks that are being resourced. When commentators focus narrowly on discretionary spending, defense is usually noted as commanding a huge share of the budget. However, when one looks at the whole of the federal budget, the picture is quite different. This difference is portrayed in Chart 2.

In the context of the whole federal budget, in FY 2022, national defense as defined by the OMB consumed 12 percent of the federal budget. This is by no means an insignificant amount, but it is dwarfed by other federal expenditures, including health care insurance and provision, income security, and many other governmental functions for which Washington is currently responsible.

Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care spending accounts together comprise the biggest portion of the budget: 27 percent. Social Security constitutes the second biggest element at 19 percent. Income Security—a collection of programs such as Civil Service Retirement and Disability, Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Housing Assistance—follows closely at 18 percent. The 12 percent representing the broader national defense enterprise is followed closely by net interest on our debt, which currently stands at 8 percent, although the burden of servicing our national debt through interest payments is likely to increase as interest rates in the United States rise. 8 Every other function of the federal government, from the administration of justice to the collection of taxes, accounts for the remaining 16 percent. It is important to keep in mind how the government truly allocates taxpayers’ dollars when considering the defense budget.

It is also important to understand the size of the federal government’s obligation when compared to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Chart 3 portrays how much of the nation’s GDP is consumed by three different categories of federal spending that include both mandatory and discretionary spending: defense, non-defense, and interest on our national debt. This picture conveys two important messages:

• The relative burden of our national defense has declined steadily over the past 60 years and
• The portion of government resources allocated to the provision of non-defense services and goods has increased substantially over time.

Chart 3 also provides a valuable baseline for the cost of interest on our national debt over the past 60 years—a consideration that has become increasingly relevant as interest rates have risen in the past few years. 9

All in all, the relative burden of defense has gone down over the past 60 years. Put another way, defense has become more affordable for the country.

Trajectory of the Defense Budget

The Department of Defense organizes and reports on its budget in multiple categories and with multiple ways of displaying the information in a yearly document, the National Defense Budget Estimates , commonly known as the “Green Book” because of its seafoam green cover pages. 10 Many of its tables contain data back to FY 1948. Many also contain estimates for the coming four fiscal years.

The Green Book also provides three different categories of resources: budget authority (BA); total obligational authority (TOA); and outlays. The simplest differentiation of these is that budget authority includes the new yearly resources that the department can obligate; total obligational authority counts resources appropriated in previous years that can be obligated in a different fiscal year; and outlays are actual disbursements made by the Treasury on behalf of the DOD. Of these, budget authority is the term used most frequently in public debate because it reflects the resources appropriated in the current fiscal year.

There is another differentiator that is relevant to understanding the data provided by the DOD: current versus constant dollars. Current dollars represent the face value of an item in the present, as if you are spending money today to buy that item. When people reminisce about a bottle of Coke in the 1950s costing less than a dollar, they are talking about current dollars. Constant dollars, on the other hand, represent a price relative to a past price in a given base year, usually the current year—for example, how much a bullet cost in 1978 adjusted to be in 2024 dollars—thus accounting for the effect of inflation over time. Currently, there is a broader appreciation of this difference because of the recent spikes in the inflation experienced by the public.

The Department of Defense was created in 1947, and Chart 4 contains both mandatory and discretionary budget authority in FY 2024 constant dollars for the DOD since FY 1948. Because of its normalization with constant dollars, the chart provides a more informative picture of the resources that have been allocated to the DOD and, more important, of the relative resources that it had available over time to purchase goods and services. The constant dollar number is an approximation that is derived from an economic understanding of rising costs and inflation. It is not a perfect representation of the historical value of the dollar, but it provides a useful perspective.

Chart 4 reveals four distinct peaks and troughs in the defense budget during the past 70 years: the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Reagan military buildup, and the global war on terrorism. These increases reflect different periods in our recent history when there was a renewed attention and commitment to the military driven by both internal and external events. In these periods, the nation allocated more resources to its military. All are followed by reductions in defense spending, reflecting the nation’s sense that a danger had passed and it could invest less in its military.

Each of these waves reflects a combination of geopolitical pressures and internal politics. It is worth noting that the Korean War generates a more abrupt peak and trough, while the other peaks are smoother and take longer both to materialize and to dissipate. In the end, the defense budget is the product of political debate and considerations and thus reflects the political environment and how the leadership interprets and reacts to it.

During the Korean War, there was a quick spike that peaked in FY 1952 with $844 billion allocated to the Department of Defense. It is followed by the end of the war and a sharp drop in FY 1955 to $479 billion. It is worth noting that the data start in FY 1948 during the post–World War II era when military expenditures were severely reduced. Between FY 1948 and FY 1950, the DOD’s budget fluctuated at around $238 billion a year—a low point even when compared to the aftermath of the Korean War.

The next peak comes in FY 1968 during the Vietnam War when the Department of Defense had a $719 billion budget. After that peak, there was a slow and consistent decline until FY 1975 when the department’s budget reached a trough of $489 billion. This decline lasted for about five fiscal years. Then, in FY 1980, the department’s budget began an upswing that peaked in FY 1985 at $775 billion, largely under the Reagan Administration’s military buildup. Between FY 1986 and FY 1998, the defense budget once again consistently declined, reaching a low of $502 billion in FY 1998.

After FY 1998, the defense budget started to climb again, a climb that was accelerated by the September 11, 2001, attacks and the nation’s subsequent response to them with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It peaked in FY 2008 with $971 billion allocated to the DOD. Interestingly, there was a quick drop in FY 2009 to $944 billion, then an increase in FY 2010 to $966 billion before another sustained decline that lasted until FY 2015 when the defense budget reached $733 billion.

Since FY 2016, there has been some increase in the defense budget, but it is still far from either a peak or a trough. In the past eight years, there have been slight increases and slight decreases with an annual average of $828 billion. There is not enough direction or time to serve as the basis for a concrete determination about the trend of the defense budget in recent years.

Fundamentally, the defense budget’s increase in constant dollars reflects our nation’s changed expectations of what the Department of Defense should do, how it should do it, and the availability of technology. The DOD’s mission has expanded significantly in the decades since the department was created. Today, the department not only prepares and fight wars, but also runs recruiting stations spread out across the country, runs schools and supermarket chains and medical facilities, and purchases billions of dollars of services and goods every year. Even small military bases provide multiple services from small sandwich shops to facilities that maintain extra-large airplanes.

Today’s DOD is expected to be able to mobilize within a moment’s notice and deploy almost anywhere in the world. Maintaining this level of preparedness and planning takes a substantial number of resources, both in manpower and in material. The United States’ armed forces have prepositioned stocks in strategic locations around the world, which is what allowed American forces in Korea to transfer equipment to Ukraine. 11

The DOD also has unique requirements both in terms of security and in terms of material conditions that are fundamentally different from those of the commercial sector. Any DOD information technology system will have to handle access by at least three different types of users—military, civilian, and contractors—with different levels of access to information, even if they are only accessing unclassified information. The infrastructure required by our armed forces is incredibly detailed and prescriptive because they deal with matters of life or death. It goes hand in hand with our society’s expectation that our armed forces will value the lives of our servicemembers and the individuals who interact with them.

This is what Americans have come to expect from their armed forces, and it does carry a price tag.

The Defense Budget and the Military Departments

The Department of Defense is composed of three military departments—Army, Navy, and Air Force—and multiple agencies and field activities that are grouped under a budgetary category called defense-wide. Each of the five military services resides within one specific military department: The Department of the Army oversees the U.S. Army; the Department of the Navy, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps; and the Department of the Air Force, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The agencies and activities provide support functions to all of the military departments and services. Examples include the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Financial and Accounting Service, and a majority of the medical care expenses and many of the intelligence functions within DOD. 12

These organizations collectively are known as the “fourth estate,” and most of their efforts represent efforts to consolidate and standardize some support activities that are common to all military departments. Each of these organizations within the DOD receives a portion of the defense budget.

There are many public discussions about the share of the budget that each of the military departments receives and whether such distribution should be equitable. However, the portion of the budget that each receives is not equal to the shares that others receive and has fluctuated greatly over time. 13 Depending on the technological developments of the time and the external threats to which the armed forces were responding, the share received by each of the services has ebbed and flowed to account for the different challenges. The Army, for example, received a higher proportion of defense dollars in the years following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because of the land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while the Air Force received a substantially larger share when it was establishing itself and there was an emphasis on air power and nuclear weapons under President Dwight Eisenhower.

Another aspect of the budget that deserves attention is the growth of defense-wide accounts that are associated with defense agencies outside of the military departments. They started as a few individual programs that were later centralized and as specific business functions that were made uniform and have since then expanded, progressively consuming a larger portion of the budget. The growth of these accounts since FY 1948 is depicted in Chart 5. These accounts have grown from a low of 0.7 percent of the defense budget in FY 1952 to a peak of close to 21 percent in FY 2022.

This is not to say that resources should not be allocated outside of the military services. The point is that there is a large portion of the defense budget, which has been consistently rising in recent years, that is controlled by different agencies and activities rather than by any of the military departments. During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, Dr. Mark Esper tried to consolidate the budget, shifting budget authorities and oversight over the defense agencies and field activities to the Chief Management Officer, 14 but the office was not given enough time to mature and properly control the resources of the fourth estate. 15

The common argument that each of the military departments receives a third of the defense budget and that it is a zero-sum game among the services is inaccurate. It does not consider the changes that take place over time and the significant role of defense agencies and field activities within the budget.

Changing Nature of the Defense Budget

Since the end of World War II, the decrease in the number of members of the Armed Forces and the increased presence and complexity of technology have forced a substantial change in how the DOD allocates its resources. Chart 6 shows how the number of total active military personnel has decreased substantially from a peak of 3.6 million in FY 1952 to a low of 1.37 million in FY 2015. The last time the United States had 2 million individuals in its armed forces was in FY 1991. The U.S. has been reducing the active members of its armed forces since FY 1987.

The data also reveal how the DOD has invested a higher proportion of its resources in the category of non-pay items, which in this instance amounts to operations and investment—in other words, what it costs to equip and operate the force. In hypersimplified terms, pay is the cost of establishing the force and non-pay is the cost of using that force.

This is consistent with the technological evolution that the United States has experienced as a society over the past 70 years as the tools of war have become increasingly capable, complex, and costly. Every tool and machine that we have at our disposal today is undoubtedly more capable than those that our parents and grandparents had at their disposal. That is also true in the military where the information technology revolution has influenced everything from how people communicate to how weapon systems operate. These systems and support services are more complex, more capable, and more expensive to maintain and operate. Additionally, servicemembers have higher expectations with respect to what their organization provides them: An officer in 1970, for example, would have no expectation of having an individualized computer issued by the Army.

It should also be noted, however, that the peak level of resources available for operations and investments was between FY 2007 and FY 2011 when the country was heavily engaged both in two wars in the Middle East and in developing the new technology that was necessary to prosecute those conflicts.

When it comes to pay, the decrease in the size of the force has not been matched by a proportional decrease in the amount dedicated to pay. In other words, as a practical matter, the level of resources allocated per servicemember has increased over time. This reflects the amount that is spent on salaries and benefits as well as other services provided to servicemembers that are not funded with resources labeled as pay.

Chart 7 reflects the increased compensation that has been required to account for the compensation the military must offer to remain competitive with the private sector. As Americans generally and servicemembers in particular have become more educated and productive, especially with the consistent introduction of new technologies, they have commanded higher wages in the market, and this is reflected in the relative increase of pay within the DOD.

The Defense Budget as Lagging Indicator

The defense budget is built through a unique process. The Department of Defense utilizes a system called Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) to build and execute its budget. This system was developed in the 1960s and is showing some cracks. 16 The PPBE process defines how the DOD builds its budget and dictates the timelines for resourcing decisions. As illustrated by Figure 1, development of the services’ budgets starts at least two years before the fiscal year that they are intended to fund. This guarantees that the budget will present a projection of the future that is tied to past projections and assumptions. Thus, incorporation of a relevant innovation that was developed during the period between composition of the budget and the start of the fiscal year would be a notably challenging exercise.

Modifying resources that were programmed years in advance would be equally challenging because they represent real costs that would be incurred by a program or organization. Whether for good or ill, this makes the defense budget quite inflexible, and large movements of funds and changes in programming take several fiscal years to become fully apparent. It is common for new Administrations to say that it will take a few budget cycles to implement the changes desired at the Pentagon. 17 Thus, the defense budget will always be a lagging indicator of the ongoing challenges being faced by our military. The PPBE system makes budgetary decisions very “sticky” and is inherently biased toward maintaining the status quo.

Further, because the budget is about allocating taxpayers’ dollars, the decisions that are made both inside and outside the department are ultimately political in nature. The final resolution of the defense budget rests with Congress, an inherently political body. However, politics also permeates the other levels of decisions involved in making the defense budget. The leaders who manage internal DOD programs will often base their actions on their expectation of what the services will do with their budget submissions, and the services will often base their actions on what they think the Office of the Secretary of Defense will do. In turn, the Secretary of Defense will anticipate and respond to the actions of the Office of Management and Budget, the President, and Congress. These interactions occur several times a day during all phases of the budget process.

There should always be continuous process improvement in the allocation of precious defense dollars. One such effort currently underway is the congressionally established Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform (PPBE Commission). Established by the FY 2022 NDAA and composed of 14 commissioners appointed by congressional leaders and the Secretary of Defense, 18 it has conducted a variety of sessions to engage with the different individuals and organizations that participate in the PPBE process. 19 The commission is scheduled to submit its final report in March 2024.

Regardless of the details and the process, determining the defense budget will necessarily be a political exercise that will have to take account of multiple divergent priorities and preferences. The political nature of such a determination makes it even more important that everyone involved has a clear understanding of the terms being discussed. After all, a 1.2 percent increase in the 050 line is very different from a 1.2 percent increase in the discretionary dollars controlled by the Department of Defense.

[1] Constitution of the United States, Preamble, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/ (accessed August 10, 2023).

[2] “Congress shall have Power to…provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Section 8.

[3] Forrest McDonald, “Preamble,” in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution , https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/0/essays/1/preamble .

[4] For a useful discussion of this question, see Brian Riedl, “What’s Wrong with the Federal Budget Process?” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1816, January 25, 2005, https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/whats-wrong-the-federal-budget-process .

[5] The department lists seven categories of such activity: “(1) Naval reactors development; (2) Weapons activities, including defense inertial confinement fusion; (3) Verification and control technology; (4) Defense nuclear materials production; (5) Defense nuclear waste and materials by-products management; (6) Defense nuclear materials security and safeguards and security investigations; and (7) Defense research and development.” See U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Management, Directives Program, “Atomic Energy Defense Activity,” https://www.directives.doe.gov/terms_definitions/atomic-energy-defense-activity#:~:text=Any%20activity%20of%20the%20Secretary%20performed%20in%20whole,%283%29%C2%A0Verification%20and%20control%20technology%3B%20%284%29%C2%A0Defense%20nuclear%20materials%20production%3B (accessed August 11, 2023).

[6] Once dollars are appropriated, federal agencies can start to spend them. Authorizations are not legally necessary, but they play an important role in budgeting because they authorize the existence of programs and organizations. For a discussion of unauthorized appropriations, see Justin Bogie, “Time to End ‘Zombie’ Appropriations,” Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. 4583, June 24, 2016, https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/time-end-zombie-appropriations .

[7] See, for example, The Heritage Foundation, Budget Blueprint for Fiscal Year 2023 , 2022, https://www.heritage.org/budget/ .

[8] Natalie Sherman, “US Interest Rates Raised to Highest Level in 16 Years,” BBC News , May 4, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65474456 (accessed August 10, 2023).

[9] The dramatic spike in 2020 and 2021 followed by a decrease in 2022 is due to the federal government’s increased expenditures during the coronavirus pandemic.

[10] For the FY 2024 edition, see U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), National Defense Budget Estimates for FY 2024 , May 2023, https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY24_Green_Book.pdf (accessed August 10, 2023).

[11] Reuters, “Pentagon Asks U.S. Forces Korea to Provide Equipment for Ukraine,” January 19, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/pentagon-asks-us-forces-south-korea-provide-equipment-ukraine-2023-01-19/ (accessed August 10, 2023).

[12] See Bradley Penniston, “Explainer: What Is the Pentagon’s Fourth Estate?” Defense One , updated May 12, 2021, https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/02/what-pentagons-fourth-estate/162939/ (accessed August 11, 2023).

[13] Frederico Bartels, “Carving Up the Defense Budget,” Daily Caller , May 7, 2021, https://dailycaller.com/2021/05/07/bartels-carving-up-defense-budget/ (accessed August 10, 2023).

[14] Jared Serbu, DoD CMO Gains New Cachet as ‘Secretary of the Fourth Estate,’ Federal News Network, July 9, 2020, https://federalnewsnetwork.com/on-dod/2020/07/dod-cmo-gains-new-cachet-as-secretary-of-the-fourth-estate/ (accessed August 10, 2023).

[15] Frederico Bartels, “Congress Should Not Terminate the Pentagon’s Chief Management Officer…Yet,” Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. 5092, July 17, 2020, https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/congress-should-not-terminate-the-pentagons-chief-management-officeryet .

[16] Frederico Bartels, “Improving Defense Resourcing: Recommendations for the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform,” Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. 5257, March 24, 2022, https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/improving-defense-resourcing-recommendations-the-commission-planning-programming .

[17] A good example can be seen in Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s description of the first budget released during his tenure. See Aaron Mehta, “Mark Esper on the ‘Big Pivot Point’ that Will Define the 2022 Budget,” Defense News , February 10, 2020, https://www.defensenews.com/smr/federal-budget/2020/02/10/mark-esper-on-the-big-pivot-point-that-will-define-the-2022-budget/ (accessed August 10, 2023).

[18] S. 1605, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, Public Law No. 117-81, December 27, 2021, Title X, Section 1004, https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ81/PLAW-117publ81.pdf (accessed August 11, 2023).

[19] See Appendix 1, “Commission on PPBE Reform Community Engagement,” updated as of February 21, 2023, in Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform, Status Update , March 2023, https://ppbereform.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PPBE-REFORM-COMMISSION-STATUS-UPDATE-MAR-2023-Public.pdf (accessed August 10, 2023).

Executive Summary of the 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength

Subscribe to email updates

© 2024, The Heritage Foundation

100+ Military Essay Topics

The military, with its history, disciplines, strategies, and controversial issues, has always been a fascinating subject for both scholars and ordinary citizens. It’s no wonder that many students, whether they have military experience or are merely curious about the topic, choose to write essays about it.

Table of Contents

What is a Military Essay?

A military essay is a piece of writing that delves into topics related to the armed forces, defense strategies, historical battles, military ethics, the role of the military in national and international politics, and more. These essays can be analytical, argumentative, historical, or even personal, reflecting on one’s own experiences in the military. The objective of such an essay is to shed light on specific issues or to present a balanced argument about a controversial military topic.

A Quick Guide on How to Choose a Military Essay Topic

Selecting the right topic is crucial for any essay, and when it comes to military subjects, the stakes are even higher. Here’s a quick guide:

• Interest is Key: Choose a topic that genuinely interests you. Your enthusiasm will reflect in your writing.
• Relevance Matters: Ensure that the topic is relevant to the current socio-political climate or has historical significance.
• Research is Crucial: Before settling on a topic, do preliminary research to ensure there’s enough material available.
• Seek Diversity: Don’t just stick to the mainstream topics. Explore lesser-known events, strategies, or personal narratives.

Military Essay Topics to Consider:

Historical analysis.

• The impact of World War II on modern military strategies.
• The evolution of naval warfare: From wooden ships to nuclear submarines.
• How the Cold War shaped military alliances and strategies.

Ethics and Morality

• The moral implications of using drones in warfare.
• Child soldiers: Understanding the tragedy and solutions.
• The balance between national security and personal freedom in times of war.

Modern Warfare and Strategies

• Cybersecurity and the new age of digital warfare.
• The role of artificial intelligence in modern military tactics.
• Understanding the military-industrial complex in the 21st century.

Role in Society

• Women in the military: Breaking barriers and challenges faced.
• How veterans reintegrate into civilian life and the challenges they encounter.
• The impact of compulsory military service on societal structures.

International Relations and Politics

• The role of NATO in today’s geopolitical landscape.
• The military strategies of emerging superpowers.
• Evaluating the pros and cons of military interventions.

Equipment and Technology

• The evolution and impact of stealth technology in aerial warfare.
• The role of satellites in modern military intelligence.
• Nuclear deterrence: More of a threat or a necessity?

Training and Discipline

• Analyzing the rigorous training regimens of elite military units.
• The importance of psychological preparation in military training.
• The role of discipline in shaping a soldier’s life and career.

Personal Narratives

• Personal experiences of soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• The role of chaplains in providing spiritual support in warfare.
• A day in the life of an army medic: Challenges and rewards.

Historical Perspectives

• The transformation of military strategies from ancient to modern times.
• The tactics and impact of guerrilla warfare throughout history.
• Military lessons from the Vietnam War.
• The influence of the Napoleonic Wars on contemporary warfare.
• The Crusades: A military and religious expedition.

Current Affairs and Modern Challenges

• The implications of North Korea’s military ambitions.
• The changing face of terrorism and its impact on global military strategies.
• The role of the U.S. military in global peacekeeping.
• China’s military expansion in the South China Sea.
• The future of warfare: Bio-weapons and other unconventional threats.

Technology and Innovation

• The challenges and benefits of integrating robotics into the battlefield.
• The evolution of military communication systems.
• The potential and ethics of genetically modified soldiers.
• How military tech influences civilian technology.
• The impact of space exploration on military aspirations.

Ethics, Morals, and Laws of War

• Torture in war: An in-depth ethical analysis.
• The use of chemical weapons: History and repercussions.
• The Geneva Conventions and their modern relevance.
• The thin line between soldiers and war criminals.
• Are there ever justifiable reasons for breaking the rules of war?

Societal Impacts and Military Influence

• The economic consequences of maintaining a large standing army.
• Propaganda and its role in military recruitment.
• How the military influences fashion and popular culture.
• The psychological impact of war on soldiers and civilians.
• Veterans and PTSD: The silent battle after war.

Training, Leadership, and Military Culture

• The physical and mental challenges of Navy SEAL training.
• The influence of ancient Spartan culture on modern military training.
• Leadership lessons from military generals.
• The concept of honor and valor in the military.
• The importance of camaraderie and brotherhood in military units.

Military Intelligence and Espionage

• The history and evolution of military codes and code breaking.
• Espionage during the Cold War: The silent heroes and villains.
• How technology is changing the face of military intelligence.
• Counterintelligence: Protecting secrets in a digital age.
• The challenges and successes of the CIA and MI6.

Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion

• The history of women’s roles in the military.
• Addressing LGBTQ+ rights within the armed forces.
• Challenges faced by minority groups in the military.
• The benefits of a diverse and inclusive military force.
• Gender roles and stereotypes in the military.

Military in Literature and Media

• The portrayal of war in classic literature.
• War movies: How Hollywood shapes our view of conflict.
• The role of war correspondents and their influence on public opinion.
• Military-themed video games: Edutainment or glorification of violence?
• The accuracy of military portrayals in popular TV shows.

International Policies and Alliances

• The history and future of NATO in global politics.
• Military neutrality: The case of Switzerland.
• The pros and cons of global disarmament treaties.
• The challenges of peacekeeping missions: A UN perspective.
• The role of the military in post-colonial African states.

Military Medical Practices

• Battlefield medicine: Evolution and advancements.
• The ethical dilemmas of triage in wartime.
• The development and importance of military nursing.
• Psychological support systems for soldiers in combat zones.
• Combatting epidemics in military camps: Historical and modern perspectives.

Strategic Defense and Military Installations

• The architecture and design of historical fortresses.
• The importance of military bases in foreign territories.
• Underground bunkers and their strategic significance.
• The role and evolution of aircraft carriers in naval warfare.
• Missile defense systems: Balancing offense and defense.

Military Traditions and Rituals

• The history and significance of military parades.
• Taps and the Last Post: Understanding military funerals.
• The tradition of military tattoos and their meanings.
• Rites of passage in different military cultures.
• Military awards and decorations: More than just medals.

Reserve and Paramilitary Forces

• The role of National Guard units in domestic emergencies.
• Comparing regular armies with reserve forces: Training, roles, and challenges.
• The significance and operations of the Coast Guard.
• Paramilitary forces and their impact on national security.
• Militias and their influence on geopolitical stability.

Military in Environmental Contexts

• Desert warfare: Challenges and strategies.
• The intricacies of jungle warfare and its historical significance.
• Arctic and mountain warfare: Overcoming nature’s harshest challenges.
• The environmental impact of military activities.
• Adapting military strategies for urban vs. rural combat scenarios.

Boost Your Military Essay with WriteOnDeadline!

Having difficulty bringing your military essay to life? At writeondeadline.com , we have a team of expert writers who can craft a compelling essay for you. Whether it’s thorough research, captivating storytelling, or an in-depth analysis you need, our professionals have got you covered. Dive deep into the discipline of defense with our top-notch writing services.

Useful References:

• U.S. Military History – An in-depth resource on the history of the U.S. Army.
• International Review of the Red Cross – A journal covering humanitarian law, policy, and action.
• RAND Corporation – Provides research and analysis on defense and security topics.
• Military Times – Offers up-to-date news and analysis on military issues.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• v.6(12); 2020 Dec

Does military spending stifle economic growth? The empirical evidence from non-OECD countries

Muhammad azam.

a Department of Economics, Faculty of Business & Economics, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

b School of Economics, Finance & Banking, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

Associated Data

Data will be made available on request.

Undeniably, peace and long-term sustainable economic development are the prime agenda of all countries. This study aims to empirically evaluate the impact of military spending on economic growth for a panel of 35 non-OECD countries over 1988–2019. A multivariate regression model based on the augmented production function is used to achieve the objective of the study. The panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)/pooled mean group (PMG) technique is employed, while, in addition the robust least squares and fixed-effect estimators are implemented for the robustness of the results. This study found a clear negative effect of military spending on economic growth. The pairwise Dumitrescu Hurlin panel causality test results exhibit bi-directional causality between military expenses and economic growth. Overall, these estimates provide strong support that military expenditure is not beneficial rather detrimental to economic growth. The empirical findings of this study suggest that policymakers need to redesign the military budget to stimulate economic growth and improve social welfare.

Military spending; Economic growth; Non-OECD countries; Balanced panel data.

1. Introduction

The assessment of the economic and social effects of military expenditure remains an interesting desirable area of research. The ultimate objectives of underdeveloped and developed countries are to achieve sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the long-run. There is a substantial volume of literature about the economic consequences of military expenditure; however, no consensus has been developed, whether military spending is beneficial or detrimental to economic growth. Military spending according to the Keynesian approach is a component of government consumption, which stimulates economic growth by expanding demand for goods and services. Military spending affects economic growth through many channels. When aggregate demand is lower relative to prospective supply, rises in military spending tend to enlarge capacity utilization, raise profits, and consequently, enhance investment and aggregate output ( Faini et al., 1984 ). Several prior studies have drawn findings that support the Keynesian military view of the positive influence of military expenditure on national output ( Benoit, 1978 ; Khalid and Noor, 2018 ; Raju and Ahmed, 2019 ). In a study conducted by Lobont et al. (2019) , it is ascertained that military spending has several positive effects on capital, labor, growth, and the effectual use of available resources in the economy as a whole.

The focus of academicians, researchers, and developmental economists for peace economics are useable as military spending is one of the main concerns of countries, regardless of their development status. According to conventional logic, the military formulation is an economic encumbrance. While comparatively more resources are devoted to military formulations, and lesser proportion is left for investment in the education and technology sectors, which play a vital role in the economic growth process and provide a broader base for socio-economic development 1 . Generally, it is believed that in the insecure region, each country deliberately allocates an uneven share of its meager economic resources to “unproductive” military expenditure. In the absenteeism of international collaboration to minimize political pressure, military expenditures can be driven more and more across a region as each country goes beyond its neighbors to safeguard its security, raise the level of regional military expenditure and bring little rise or even a decline in the security of all. However, there are two direct and interconnected ways by which higher military expenditure may unfavorably affect long-run economic growth. First, military spending upsurge may diminish the total accumulation of existing resources available for other domestic usages such as investment in prolific capital, education, and market-oriented technological enhancement. Second, high military expenditure can intensify misrepresentations that condense the efficiency of resource distribution, thereby diminishing the total yield factor 2 .

Military expenditure tends to attenuate productivity because more funds diversion to military expenditure causes the government to either increase taxes or get loans from the foreign capital market to balance its budget. The second alternative is therefore primarily harmful to economic prosperity, since it escalates the rate of interest, decreases investment and consumer demand, and drives economic growth sluggish ( Russett, 1969 ; Borch and Wallace, 2010 ). In a similar vein, some other studies including Lim (1983) noted that military expenses are harmful to the growth of any economy. Even, a study by Dunne (2000) focusing on the Keynesian framework reveals that military spending has no influence on growth at best, but most probably has an inverse effect; obviously, there is no indication of a positive influence of military burden on economic growth. This implies that disarmament certainly offers a prospect for augmented economic performance.

Figure 1 shows the trend analysis of Latin American and Caribbean; lower middle income, low & middle income, and world military expenditure in billion US$. The trend analysis reveals that defense spending has grown from 1980 to 2019.

Trend analysis of the military spending in US$. Data source : World Development Indicators (2020) , the World Bank.

The motivation of this study is based on the growing global military burden–worldwide military spending as a share of global GDP–in 2019 it was estimated at 2.2%, a minor upsurge from 2018. Military expenditure per head increased from USD243 in 2018 to USD249 in 2019. In 2019, non-OECD countries' China and India were the 2nd and 3rd largest military payers in the world respectively 3 . Likewise, the statistics reveal that military expenditures have been increasing in many non-OECD countries which are not a good symptom for national economic development and the desired level of social welfare. Moreover, there are still very limited empirical studies on non-OECD countries except Lee and Chen's (2007) study, where the authors evaluate the long-run causality between defense expenditure and national income using panel data for 62 non-OECD countries from 1988–2003.

The main objective of this study is to explore empirically the impact of military expenditure on growth in the context of 35 non-OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development) countries from 1988 to 2019. The panel of countries is considered based on balanced and consistent data availability 4 . I assume that all sample countries have similar characteristics. This study contributes to the growing literature on the effects of defense expenditures on growth in four novel ways. Firstly , this study analyzes the effect of defense spending on a panel of 35 non-OECD countries, where military spending has been increased substantially during the investigated period. To the best of our knowledge, none of the existing studies covers this large panel of non- OECD countries. Secondly , unlike the erstwhile studies, I employed the Panel ARDL/PMG approach, and the methods of Robust Least-Squares, and Fixed-Effect for the robustness of results. Additionally, the commonly used heterogeneous panel Granger causality test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) is employed to find the causal linkages between the variables. Thirdly , I used a different portfolio of regressors to avoid any misspecification of the growth equation. Finally , I have articulated several prior studies to comprehend the problem in depth. Consequently, to mitigate the gap in the literature, this study contributes to the literature about the impact of military spending on economic growth for less developed countries.

The remainder of this study is structured as follows. Section 2 contains the literature review. Section 3 deals with the empirical methodology and data. Section 4 consists of empirical results and discussion. Finally, section 5 concludes the study.

2. Literature review

2.1. the theoretical literature on defense sending and economic growth relationship.

Benoit (1978) documented that countries with substantial defense expenditure mostly had the quickest rate of growth compared to those with the lowermost defense expenditures which tended to exhibit the lowermost growth rates. On the positive contribution of defense spending in economic growth Benoit (1978) noted that “Defense programs of most countries make tangible contributions to the civilian economies by (i) feeding, clothing, and housing a number of people who would otherwise have to be fed, housed, and clothed by the civilian economy-and sometimes doing so, especially in less developed countries, in ways that involve sharply raising their nutritional and other consumption standards and expectations; (ii) providing education and medical care as well as vocational and technical training (e.g., in the operation and repair of cars, planes, and radios; in hygiene and medical care; in construction methods) that may have high civilian utility; (iii) engaging in a variety of public works-roads, dams, river improvements, airports, communication networks, etc.-that may in part serve civilian uses; and (iv) engaging in scientific and technical specialties such as hydrographic studies, mapping, aerial surveys, dredging, meteorology, soil conservation, and forestry projects as well as certain quasi-civilian activities such as coast guard, lighthouse operation, customs work, border guard, and disaster relief which would otherwise have to be performed by civilian personnel. Military forces also engage in certain R & D …… which might not be economically produced solely for civilian demand.” (p. 277).

A study conducted by Narayan and Singh (2007) claim that the direct and indirect contribution to the national income by defense spending is consistent with the Keynesian theory of consumption.

On the other hand, Smith (1977) expounded that in interpreting the empirical results of any study, it is required to have a valid theory, even if it may not by itself be provable. Unfortunately, there is no economic theory to this date covering the economic impact of defense expenditure. 5 Deger and Smith (1983) noted that the classical school of thought argues that an upsurge in defense spending is likely to impede economic growth. This argument is based on the principle that greater defense expenditure indicates a lower level of private investment, savings, and consumption due to small aggregate demand. In other words, increased military spending contributes to a rise in the interest rate, which subsequently overwhelms private investment. The Keynesian school of thought argues that a rise in the defense expenses stimulates demand, boosting purchasing power and aggregate output, and generating positive externalities. In their study Dunne and Tian (2016) , it was noted that there was no theoretical basis to guide the experimental analysis. Though, the Keynesian consumption theory reveals that defense spending may stimulate growth through positive spill-over effects. However, such kind of theoretical prediction based on the Keynesian model is less clear.

2.2. Empirical studies on the impact of military spending on economic growth

Despite the voluminous empirical studies on the military-growth connection, the empirical findings are still inconclusive 6 . The discussion in the present literature on the influence of military spending opened with the seminal work of Benoit (1978) which opined that military spending and growth have a positive correlation. Afterward, many studies are continuously performed to empirically verify the relationship between these variables by using different models, estimation techniques, set of countries, and data period. Several other studies support the positive effect of defense spending including Atesoglu (2002) , who observed that there exists a significantly positive association in military outlays and aggregate output in the case of the United States from 1947:2–2000:2. The empirical analysis of the study by Yildirim et al. (2005) found that military spending boosts national income in the Middle Eastern countries and Turkey over 1989–99. Narayan and Singh (2007) empirically verified that defense expenses Granger causes exports, and exports Granger causes national income (GDP), indicating that defense spending indirectly Granger causes national income in the short-run for Fiji over 1970–01. According to Borch and Wallace (2010) , higher levels of military expenditure are better prepared to stave off the harmful influences of an economic slump than states with lower levels of military spending in the 49 U.S. states during 1977–04. Malizard (2010) observed two-way causality between military spending and growth in France during 1960–08. Findings of Farzanegan (2014) study supported the positive impact of the military outlay on growth in Iran during 1959–07. Khalid and Noor (2018) concluded that military spending has a positive relationship with growth in sixty-seven developing economies during 2002–10.

On the other hand, some prior studies, for example, Faini et al. (1984) detected that a greater military burden is related to sluggish growth for 69 countries during 1952–70, whereas a rise of 10% military spending leads to a decrease of annual economic growth by 0.13%. Deger (1986) revealed that overall the direct and indirect effects of military expenditure will dampen growth rate and impede development in a panel of 50 developing economies during 1965–73. The author suggested that empirical indication goes against the conclusions of Benoit and others about the positive impact of military outlay on growth in less-developed economies. Abu-Bader and Abu-Qarm (2003) found that military expenditure hampers economic growth, but civilian expenses have a positive impact on growth for Egypt, Israel, and Syria (1975–98), (1967–98), and (1973–98) respectively. The empirical findings of Klein (2004) reveal that overall the military outlay has a negative influence on the growth rate of Peru over 1970–96. Chang et al. (2011) found that military expenditure leads to deleterious growth for low-income countries in the whole sample of 90 countries during 1992–06. D'Agostino et al. (2017) observed a significantly negative effect of military spending on growth in 83 countries from OECD over 1970–14. Saba and Ngepah (2019) examined the causal link between military spending and economic growth for 35 African countries over 1990–15. The authors found that (i) no causal link in seven countries; (ii) one-way causality from military spending to growth in two countries; (iii) one-way link from growth one-way in 14 countries; and (iv) two-ways link in 12 countries. Overall, the GMM estimates reveal that military spending has a significant negative effect on economic growth in Africa.

Similarly, other studies provide evidence of mixed results on the economic effects of military expenses on growth, for example, the study of Frederiksen and Looney (1982) divided the economies into financial resource restrained and unrestrained groups over 1960–78. The findings revealed that enhanced military expenditures promoted growth in the unrestrained group, but a small visible impact was found in resource-constrained countries. In a study on three North American countries namely Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. during 1963–05, Bremmer and Kesselring (2007) found that enhanced military expenditure promotes nominal GDP in Canada and Mexico, while it declines the growth in nominal GDP in the U.S. Aye et al. (2014) observed no Granger causal association between military outlay and growth for South Africa during 1951–10. However, by using the bootstrap rolling window estimation approach, the study finds two ways Granger causality in different subsamples. The results of Chang et al. (2014) supported the neutrality hypothesis for France, Germany, and Italy, while, the military expenditure–growth hampering hypothesis for Canada and the UK, and unidirectional Granger causality running from national income to military outlay for China. Moreover, the results supported the feedback 7 between military spending and national income in the case of Japan and the U.S. over 1988–10. Using the “Hendry General-to-Specific modeling” methodology, the study of Abdel-Khalek et al. (2019) fails to find any causal linkages between military spending and economic growth in India over 1980–16. Some more related empirical studies are given in Table 1 .

Table 1

Selected prior studies on the association between Milex and aggregate output.

The existing empirical studies have shown that, although it is a subject of concentration for many researchers, economists, and policymakers, there is still no harmony in the literature on the economic impact of military spending on economic growth.

3. Empirical methodology

3.1. model specification.

Based on the existing literature on the growth theories, the present study specified a growth equation introduced by Solow (1956 ; 1957) , also used by Mankiw et al. (1992) , Barro et al. (1995) , and Barro (2003) where inputs namely physical and human capital together produce aggregate production. The Solow model encompasses four inputs, namely, output ( Y ), capital ( K ), labor ( L ), and “knowledge” or the “effectiveness of labor” ( A ), and t denotes time. The economy produces output with a combination of certain amounts of labor, capital, and knowledge. The model can be written in mathematical form as follows:

I specify the empirical model by incorporating military spending in the growth equation following the existing literature including ( Dunne and Tian, 2015 ; D'Agostino 2017 , see for details on the empirical model). Thus, in this study, a multivariate probabilistic model, based on the augmented production function is used to validate empirically the impact of military spending as a percentage of GDP along with some other control variables, including human capital, physical capital, foreign remittances, and the level of development on economic growth proxied by GDP per capita growth rate. Similar growth models encompass military spending is also frequently used in erstwhile research studies, for instance by Antonakis (1997) , Dunne and Nikolaidou (2012) , Hou and Chen (2013) , Lobont et al. (2019) , Mohanty et al. (2020) . The multivariate regression equation used in this study can be expressed symbolically as follows;

In Eq. (2) α 1 , α 2 , α 3 , α 4 , and α 5 symbolizes the estimated coefficients, i and t indicates the i t h country and the t t h time period, respectively ( i = 1,2 , … , N = 35 ; t = 1,2 , … , T = 32 ) . Where G is the GDP per capita growth rate, M S represents military spending, I is an investment by gross capital formation, R M is personal remittances received, H K is human capital by total life expectancy at birth in years, P C I is GDP per capita at level represents the level of development, and ε is an error term, which shows effects of other variables not included in the model. It is assumed that the error term (ε t ) is to be independently and identically distributed ( ε t ∼ i i d ( 0 , σ 2 ) .

I hypothesized that in Eq. (2) , the impact of human capital, physical capital, and workers' remittances have a positive relationship with economic growth, and initial per capita income hurts economic growth, while the impact of military spending is determined in this study.

The unrestricted error correction for the ARDL model ( p , q , q , … … , q ) model by Pesaran et al. (1999: 623–24) is used as per the order of integration of the data and can be expressed symbolically as follows:

In Eq. (3) , the subscripts i and t show group (country) and period, respectively. So, the periods t = 1, 2,…… T (i.e., 1988–2019) and the groups (countries) i = 1,2,…., N (in this case N = 35). G i , t is the growth rate of GDP per capita (regressand); X i t ( k × 1 ) is the vector of explanatory variables (regressors), including military spending, investment, human capital, workers remittances, and initial per capita income, μ i denote the fixed effects; λ i j represents the coefficient of the lagged regressand; δ i j are k × 1 coefficient vectors (representing the coefficient of the lagged explanatory variables); and ε is an error term. T needs to be suitably large such that the model for each group (country) can be estimated separately.

Eq. (3) in reparameterized form can be used to accomplish the objectives of the study:

where, φ i = − ( 1 − ∑ j = 1 p λ i , j ) , β i = ∑ j = 0 q δ i , j .

In Eq. (4) , φ is the coefficient of the speed of adjustment in the long-run equilibrium.

3.2. Data and it sources

Annual cross-sectional balanced panel data from 1988 to 2019 is used. Though we intend to use longer period data, consistent balanced data were available for only 32 years. The growth rate of GDP per capita is used as regressand, and the regressors are military expenditure as % of GDP, worker remittances are personal remittances, received (current US$), GDP per capita (current US$), gross capital formation, and total life expectancy at birth (years). The data initially were in US$ and converted to GDP ratio except for GDP per capita. Data on all variables are extracted from the World Development Indicators ( WDI, 2020 ), the World Bank.

3.3. Estimation strategy

3.3.1. panel unit root tests (purts).

Before the formal empirical exploration of the panel data, it is essential to have an understanding of the integrating properties of the data. Therefore, this research work employed PURTs i.e., Levin et al. (2002) (LLC), Fisher-ADF, and Fisher-PP tests by Maddala and Wu (1999) and Choi (2001) ; and Im et al. (2003) (IPS).

3.3.2. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)/pooled mean group (P.M.G.)

Pesaran and Shin (1999) introduced the Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) model in error correction form as a comparatively innovative cointegration test. Pesaran and Shin (1999) claim that the panel ARDL can be employed for variables even with dissimilar order of integration i.e. either in case of I ( 0 ) or I ( 1 ) . The ARDL model, in particular, the P.M.G. provides reliable coefficients despite the potential existence of endogeneity, as it comprises lags of regressand and regressors ( Pesaran et al., 1999 ). This study, therefore, uses the panel ARDL approach to explore the long-run equilibrium association of the elemental variables and the P.M.G. model to assess the impact of defense spending on economic growth. The error correction model provides information regarding the long-run demeanor of the parameters of the model. This approach has the advantage that it uses a single condensed form equation, compared with the other cointegration approach, so that endogeneity is not a major problem as it is free from the residual relationship. Likewise, the ARDL neglects the specification of the exogenous and endogenous variables required to be incorporated into the model. It also uses optimal lags for the elemental variables that cannot be used in standard cointegration tests ( Guei, 2019 ). This method is also employed by D'Agostino et al. (2017) for investigating the long-run equilibrium linkage between military expenditure and growth in 83 OECD countries.

3.3.3. The robust least squares (RLS), fixed-effect and Dumitrescu and Hurlin

The robust least squares estimators are applied because the outliers in the data can have a severe effect on regression results. Usually, the most commonly used method, including the traditional least squares method (OLS) for data analysis, overlooks the issue of outliers ( Barnett and Lewis 1978 ; Belsley et al., 1980 ). Robust regression is an alternate solution to overcome this problem, which provides robust results ( Huber, 1973 ). M-estimation is a broadly used method for robust statistical results. The setting of M-estimation is logically advantageous to penalization to standardize parameters, and it is generally employed to perform robust estimation and variable selection ( Owen, 2007 ). Many prior studies such as Wilcox and Keselman (2012) , and Pitselis (2013) documented that the M-estimation of R.L.S. method gives large advantages over the least-squares method.

This study also employed the fixed-effect estimator suggests by the Hausman (1978) test over the random-effect as the p-value (0.0279) is statistically significant (see Table 6 ). To deal with endogeneity bias is offered by the fixed-effect analytic approach, which necessitates multilevel data/panel data ( Allison, 2009 ). The method of fixed-effect is a very flexible approach to adjusting for endogeneity originating from omitted variable bias. The predominant purpose of the fixed-effect method is to eliminate all bias that is due to the association of encompassed variables with omitted time-invariant variables ( Wooldridge, 2009 ; Stone and Rose, 2011 ). The fixed-effect estimator is also implemented by Knight et al. (1996) Dunne and Nikolaidou (2012) , Azam and Feng (2017) , and Dunne et al. (2019) in related studies. Also, the commonly used heterogeneous test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin  ( 2012 ) which is a simple non-causality test in heterogeneous panel data models developed by Granger (1969) is employed to find the direction of causality between the variables.

Table 6

Robust least squares, and fixed-effect estimates.

Method: M-estimation M settings: weight = Bisquare, tuning = 4.685, scale = MAD (median centered).

Huber Type I Standard Errors & Covariance .

Note: a, b, and c denotes 1%, 5%, and 10% level of significance respectively.

4. Results and discussions

Table 2 provides a summary of the descriptive statistics of balanced panel data set containing 35 non-OECD countries over the period of 1988–19. The results of the pair-wise correlation between the series are also given in Table 2 . These results reveal that all the variables are normally distributed whereas the error term is having zero mean and finite variance indicated by Jarque-Bera's statistic. The pair-wise correlation results expose that military spending and per capita income is negatively correlated with economic growth, while a positive correlation exists between physical capital and economic growth, and the same is true for human capital and foreign remittances. The correlation analysis suggests no evidence of multicollinearity between the series.

Table 2

Summary statistics and correlation matrix.

Note: p-values are in ( ).

Before checking stationarity properties of selected variables namely military spending, physical capital, human capital, per capita income, foreign remittances, and economic growth, this study first implements Pesaran's (2004) tests to check the cross-sectional dependence in panel data. To avoid the problem of cross-sectional dependence may lead to partial results. The cross-sectional dependence test results are reported in Table 3 . These results reveal solid evidence to discard the null hypothesis of cross-sectional dependence as the relevant p-values are statistically significant. These results endorse the existence of cross-sectional dependence for military spending, physical capital, human capital, per capita income, foreign remittances, and economic growth.

Table 3

Results of CD cross-sectional dependence tests.

Note: Null hypothesis: No cross-section dependence. d.f. = 595. Alll tests shows that all included variables are signficant at the 1% level of significance.

A summary of the results of PURTs is given in Table 4 . The panel unit root results demonstrate that the growth rate of GDP per capita, military spending, human capital, investment, and workers remittances are stationary at the level, while and PCI proxied by GDP per capita are found non-stationary at the level and became stationary after its first difference with individual constant and trend in a panel. PURTs results suggest that all variables used in the study are mixed in order of integration i.e. integrated at I ( 0 ) and I ( 1 ) in each panel. Thus, I implement the ARDL/P.M.G. methods for empirical estimation purposes. For the sake of robustness, this study also employed the methods of robust least squares and fixed-effect.

Table 4

Summary of PURTs results.

Note: The unit root tests are carried out with a specification of constant and time trend. Where, asterisk a indicates statistical significant at the 1% level of significance. C shows Constant, and T show Trend.

Based on the PURTs results, this study first implements the pooled mean group technique for exploring the long-run equilibrium association between variables. Empirical estimations of both the long-run and short-run parameters that link military spending, human capital, remittances, the initial level of development, and national income (economic growth) by employing the PMG method are reported in Table 5 . It is evident from Table 5 that all empirically evaluated explanatory variables have considerable effects on the economic growth of the 35 non-OECD economies. The P.M.G. results reveal that all regressors are statistically significant individually, thus, validating and signifying that the estimated model is theoretically and statistically acceptable. All the regressors carry the probable coefficient signs.

Table 5

Pooled Mean Group results.

Note: Regressor is GDP per capita growth rate.

Asterisk a, denotes 1% level of significance.

ECM = Error crrection coefficient . Model selection method: AIC.

Results given in Table 5 reveal that military spending ( M S ) has an inverse effect on the national income ( G ) in the long-run. I obtained impartially robust empirical results on the negative impact of defense spending and economic growth in the long-run. Results favor the likely adverse effect of military spending on growth. In the long-run, the estimated coefficient of -0.3223 is estimated for the military spending variable, which is significant statistically at the 1% level. Empirical results indicating that a 1% upsurge in military expenditure will dampen economic growth by 0.3223%. Similar results are also obtained by Dunne and Nikolaidou (2012) using panel data for 15 countries from the EU over 1961–07. The findings of this study are consistent with the study carried out by Knight et al. (1996) , Hou and Chen (2013) , and D'Agostino et al. (2017) , and Saba and Ngepah (2019) . While, our results are in contrast with the findings of Narayan and Singh (2007) , Feridun et al. (2011) , Farzanegan (2014) , Sheikh et al. (2017) , and Lobont et al. (2019) , as these studies yield positive relationship between military expenditures and economic growth, also quite consistent with the illustration of the Keynesian school of thought. Mostly military expenditure is unproductive in developing countries. Developing countries face multiple challenges and need to focus on promoting economic growth and thereby social welfares. After achieving the desired level of economic growth, these countries may opt for military spending. Countries spending on the military are in loss unless they export armaments to other countries and increase their foreign exchange.

It is evident from Table 5 , that the impact of workers' remittances ( R M ) on economic growth is significantly positive at a 1 percent level. The estimated coefficient found is 0.0916 in the long run, signifying that a 1% upsurge in workers' remittances flow leads to a 0.0916% upsurge in economic growth. The positive and statistically significant correlation between remittances and growth was also acquired by Azam (2015 ; 2016) .

Investment ( I ) represented by gross capital formation is included in the regression model, which is one of the fundamental inputs for production. Table 5 indicates that the investment variable is positively associated with economic growth in the long run. The estimated coefficient value is 0.1195 and significant at the 1% level in the long-run. This result infers that an upsurge of 1% in investment leads to an enlargement in the national growth rate by 0.1195 % in the long-run. This finding is consistent with the results obtained by Azam (2016) , and Mohanty et al. (2020) .

Human capital ( H K ) is a key element of the production function; so, human capital by total life expectancy in a year is included in the regression model. The P.M.G. results exhibit that human capital has a positive impact on economic growth in the long-run. The estimated coefficient for human capital found is 0.0283 and significant at the 1% level in the long-run. Empirical estimates exhibit that one unit change in the human capital will promote economic growth by 0.0283%. The results of the encouraging connection between human capital and growth show that investment in human health has a momentous and valuable impact by a growing lifespan, thus, growing output and hence, economic development. The significantly positive effect of human capital on growth is consistent with the study conducted by Karim and Amin (2018) , and Azam (2020) .

Initial GDP per capita represents the level of development that has a negative association with the growth and significant statistically at the 1 percent level. The estimated coefficient for the initial level of development is -0.0005 in the long-run. The negative result of the coefficient on the initial level of development variable, the GDP per capita at the start of each year, shows the conditional convergence effect. The estimated speed of conditional convergence is around 0.0005% per year. The significantly negative impact on initial GDP per capita on the growth was also explored by Hou and Chen (2013) .

The robust least squares and fixed-effect estimators’ results are given in Table 6 confirms that military spending has a detrimental impact on the growth in 35 non-OECD countries. Whereas workers' remittances, physical and human capital have a positive effect on national income, and initial GDP per capita harms growth. There is no indication of any positive impact of military spending on economic growth. All estimated coefficients are statistically significant and strongly support the empirical results of the P.M.G. approach. Non-OECD countries are mostly developing countries if compared to developed countries. The developed world often can allocate resources of their national budget to military spending. Whereas most developing economies including non-OECD countries suffer from high levels of poverty, and allocation of their resources to military spending may further contribute to poverty. Comparing the empirical results of this study with many including Saba et al. (2019) , I conclude that military expenditure in non-OECD does not stimulate economic growth.

Moreover, the commonly used heterogeneous test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) is used to explore the causal linkages between the variables. The Dumitrescu and Hurlin test allows for heterogeneity through cross-sections, and the results are presented in Table 7 . The results reveal that there exists a statistically significant bidirectional causality between military spending and economic growth. It is evident from Table 7 that most of the results show the existence of causality between variables which are also statistically significant. The Dumitrescu − Hurlin Granger causality results suggest a feedback link between military spending and growth. The empirical finding of a feedback link indicates that neither of these two variables can be measured exogenous. These results are consistent with the findings accrued by Frederiksen (1989) , and Lobont et al. (2019) , while inconsistent with the findings of Abdel-Khalek et al. (2019) .

Table 7

Results of Dumitrescu Hurlin panel causality tests.

Null hypothesis: no causality; top values represents W-Stat; Zbar-Stat are in ( ); p-values are in [ ]. Lag: 2.

Asterisk a, b, c indicates statistical significant at the 1%, 5 % and 10% level respectively.

Thus, overall, the PMG, RLS, fixed-effect, and Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality tests results reveal that military spending does not have any positive impact on military spending in non-OECD countries, while it has a significant negative effect on the economies. These theoretically, technically, and statistically sound empirical results are plausible for policy formation.

5. Concluding remarks

Several empirical studies are available on the relationship between military spending and economic growth, but their empirical findings are yet inconclusive. Undeniably, the economic effect of military expenditure is an essential issue for the developing world. Therefore, this research work aims to determine empirically the impact of military expenditure along with some other control variables on the growth, for a set of thirty-five countries from non-OECD over 1988–19. According to the nature of the data, the widely used panel unit tests are employed to check the order of integration of each variable. The results are found mixed (i.e., I(0), and I(1)) based on stationarity, and thus, the panel ARDL/PMG approach is applied. Afterward, the panel robust least squares and fixed-effect estimators are also employed as analytical techniques for parameters’ estimation to affirm the results, and the Dumitrescu –Hurlin Granger causality test is employed to find the direction of causality between the variables.

The empirical results of all the methods suggest that military spending and economic growth have a strong inverse relationship, suggesting that encouraging military expenditure is not a good option because it discourages economic growth. Moreover, the Dumitrescu–Hurlin Granger causality test exposes bidirectional causal nexus between military expenses and economic growth in the sample countries. The bidirectional causal linkage between military spending and growth though exhibits a degree of interdependence between military spending and economic growth policy objectives. Thus, the execution of economic growth policies should not be given more primacy over the military burden while other than military expenditure factors shall be considered.

Overall, the empirical results validated that military spending is undesirable for national economic development. The results of the significantly negative effect of military spending on national income go against the results obtained by Benoit (1978) , and others who claim that military expenditure positively contributes to the aggregate output, while, consistent with the findings by Dunne and Tian (2015) for 106 countries over 1988–10, Dunne and Tian concluded that “These results do seem to provide valuable robustness checks and support strongly the view that military spending hurts growth” (p.29). The findings of the present study are technically and statistically acceptable and plausible for frontwards policy recommendation purposes.

From these findings, the unequivocal negative effect of military spending on economic growth indicates that non-OECD countries are developing countries with scarce resources, and these economies can't afford military spending, while when these economies grow, governments can contemplate rising its military spending to strengthen its military power. Enlarged military spending can't be used to boost economic growth in the non-OECD countries, since any positive impacts it would have on the economic growth through augmented demand, modernization, and resource outset, would have overwhelmed by the damaging effects on economic growth through reduced investment. Policymakers should thus leave military spending for security objectives only and restructuring public resources from the military sector toward civilian objectives 11 . Likewise, policymakers should focus on rationalizing their budget spending more on improving social welfare. Furthermore, incremental efforts are required to adopt an effective and prudent policy to further encourage growth, while shrinkage in military spending can largely benefit the economies. Therefore, military expenditures need to be reduced while expenditures on other developmental sectors including health and education sectors to be increased.

The limitation of this study is that it deals only with a panel of 35 non-OECD countries over the period of 1988–19, as consistent and balanced data were only available on this period on selected variables.

It is suggested for future research to divide the non-OECD countries based on the levels of military spending, re-run regression on non-OECD and OECD countries separately, and compare their empirical findings which will certainly help the management authorities. Moreover, the turning point/threshold effect of military spending shall be empirically evaluated. Perhaps, it will need advanced econometric techniques to come up with a meaningful investigation.

Declarations

Author contribution statement.

Muhammad Azam: Conceived and designed the analysis; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Contributed analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Funding statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Declaration of interests statement.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

1 Looney and Frederiksen (1986) .

2 Knight et al. (1996) .

3 SIPRI (2020) .

4 Countries included are Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Paraguay, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Eswatini (Swaziland), Egypt, Arab Rep., Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand.

5 D'Agostino et al. (2010).

6 See Dunne and Nikolaidou (2012) .

7 It means two-way Granger causal connection between military expenditure and economic growth.

8 For China and Pakistan (1989–17), for India (1980–17).

9 Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, Turkey, Spain, Sweden the Netherlands and UK.

10 The results confirm the hypothesized positive relationship between defense and growth in the unconstrained group, but was not confirmed for the constrained group. where the study hypothesize that a negative relationship will exist between defense and economic growth in countries which are financially resource constrained, and a positive relationship will exist in countries which are relatively resource unconstrained.

11 See Antonakis (1997) .

• Abdel-Khalek G., Mazloum M.G., El Zeiny M.R.M. Military expenditure and economic growth: the case of India. Rev. Econom. Political Sci. 2019; 5 (2):116–135. [ Google Scholar ]
• Abu-Bader S., Abu-Qarm A. Government expenditures, military spending and economic growth: causality evidence from Egypt, Israel and Syria. J. Policy Modelling. 2003; 25 (6-7):567–583. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ajmair M., Hussain K., Abbassi F.A., Gohar M. The impact of military expenditures on economic growth of Pakistan. Appl. Econom. Finance. 2018; 5 (2):41–48. [ Google Scholar ]
• Allison P.D. Sage; Thousand Oaks, CA: 2009. Fixed Effects Regression Models (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences Series) [ Google Scholar ]
• Antonakis N. Military expenditure and economic growth in Greece, 1960-90. J. Peace Res. 1997; 34 (1):89–100. [ Google Scholar ]
• Arshad A., Syed S.H., Shabbir G. Military expenditure and economic growth: a panel data analysis. Forman J. Econom. Stud. 2017; 1 3 :161–175. [ Google Scholar ]
• Atesoglu H.S. Defense spending promotes aggregate output in the United States-evidence from cointegration analysis. Defence Peace Econ. 2002; 13 (1):55–60. [ Google Scholar ]
• Aye G.C., Balcilar M., Dunne J.P., Gupta R., Eyden R.V. Military expenditure, economic growth and structural instability: a case study of South Africa. Defence Peace Econ. 2014; 25 (6):619–633. [ Google Scholar ]
• Azam M. “The role of migrant workers remittances in fostering economic growth: the four Asian developing country’s experiences. Int. J. Soc. Econ. 2015; 42 (8):1–18. [ Google Scholar ]
• Azam M. Does governance and foreign capital inflows affect economic development in OIC countries? J. Econom. Cooperation Dev. 2016; 37 (4):21–50. [ Google Scholar ]
• Azam M. Energy and economic growth in developing Asian economies. J. Asia Pac. Econ. 2020; 25 (3):447–471. [ Google Scholar ]
• Azam M., Feng Y. Does military expenditure increase external debt? Evidence from Asia. Defence Peace Econ. 2017; 28 (5):550–567. [ Google Scholar ]
• Barnett V., Lewis T. John Wiley and Sons; New York: 1978. Outliers in Statistical Data. [ Google Scholar ]
• Barro R.J. Determinants of economic growth in a panel of countries. Ann. Econ. Finance. 2003; 4 :231–274. [ Google Scholar ]
• Barro R., Mankiw N.G., Sala-i-Martin X. Capital mobility in Neoclassical models of growth. Am. Econ. Rev. 1995; 85 (1):103–115. [ Google Scholar ]
• Belsley D.A., Kuh E., Welsch R.E. Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity. John Wiley & Sons; New York: 1980. Regression diagnostics. [ Google Scholar ]
• Benoit E. Growth and defence in developing countries. Econ. Dev. Cult. Change. 1978; 26 :271–280. [ Google Scholar ]
• Borch C., Wallace M. Military spending and economic well-being in the American states: the post-vietnam war era. Soc. Forces. 2010; 88 (4):1727–1752. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bremmer D., Kesselring R. Presented in the 49th Annual Conference of the Western Social Science Association Hyatt Regency Hotel, Alberta, Canada, April 13, 2007. 2007. The impact of defense spending on GDP: the case of North America. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chang H.-C., Huang B.-N., Yang C.W. Military expenditure and economic growth across different groups: a dynamic panel Granger-causality approach. Econ. Modell. 2011; 28 :2416–2423. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chang T., Lee C.-C., Hung K., Lee K.-H. Does military spending really matter for economic growth in China and G7 countries: the roles of dependency and heterogeneity. Defence Peace Econ. 2014; 25 (2):177–191. [ Google Scholar ]
• Choi I. Unit root tests for panel Data. J. Int. Money Finance. 2001; 20 (2):249–272. [ Google Scholar ]
• Deger S. Economic development and defense expenditure. Econ. Dev. Cult. Change. 1986; 35 (1):179–196. [ Google Scholar ]
• Deger S., Smith R. Military expenditure and growth in less developed countries. J. Conflict Resolut. 1983; 27 (2):335–353. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dumitrescu E.-I., Hurlin C. Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Econ. Modell. 2012; 29 (4):1450–1460. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dunne J.P. Economics Group, Middlesex University Business School; The Burroughs, Hendon, London: 2000. The Economic Effects of Military Expenditure in Developing Countries. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dunne J.P., Nikolaidou E. Defence spending and economic growth in the EU 15. Defence Peace Econ. 2012; 23 (6):537–548. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dunne J.P., Tian N. Military expenditure, economic growth and heterogeneity. Defence Peace Econ. 2015; 26 (1):15–31. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dunne J.P., Tian N. “Military expenditure and growth, 1960–2014. Econom. Peace and Security J. 2016; 11 (2):50–56. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dunne J.P., Nikolaidou E., Chiminya A. Military spending, conflict and external debt in Sub-Saharan Africa. Defence Peace Econ. 2019; 30 (4):462–473. [ Google Scholar ]
• D’ Agostino G., Dunne J.P., Pieroni L. Does military spending matter for long-run growth? Defence Peace Econ. 2017; 28 (4):429–436. [ Google Scholar ]
• Faini R., Annez P., Taylor L. Defence spending, economic structure and growth: evidence among countries and over time. Econ. Dev. Cult. Change. 1984; 32 (3):487–498. [ Google Scholar ]
• Farzanegan M.R. Military spending and economic growth: the case of Iran. Defence Peace Econ. 2014; 25 (3):247–269. [ Google Scholar ]
• Feridun M., Sawhney B., Shahbaz M. The impact of military spending on economic growth: the case of North Cyprus. Defence Peace Econ. 2011; 22 (5):555–562. [ Google Scholar ]
• Frederiksen P.C. “The relationship between defence spending and economic growth: some evidence for Indonesia, 1964–85. Contemp. S. Asia. 1989; 10 (4):375–384. [ Google Scholar ]
• Frederiksen P.C., Looney R.E. Defense expenditures and economic growth in developing countries. J. Econ. Dev. 1982; 7 (1):113–125. [ Google Scholar ]
• Granger C.W.J. Investigating causal relations by econometric models and cross-spectral methods. Econometrica. 1969; 37 :424–438. [ Google Scholar ]
• Guei K.M. External debt and growth in emerging economies. Int. Econ. J. 2019; 33 (2):236–251. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hausman J.A. Specification tests in econometrics. Econometrica. 1978; 46 (6):1251–1271. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hou N., Chen B. Military expenditure and economic growth in developing countries: evidence from system GMM estimates. Defence Peace Econ. 2013; 24 (3):183–193. [ Google Scholar ]
• Huber P.J. Robust regression: asymptotics, conjecture, and Monte Carlo. Ann. Stat. 1973; 1 :799–821. [ Google Scholar ]
• Im K.S., Pesaran M.H., Shin Y. Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels. J. Econom. 2003; 115 :53–74. (revise version of 1997’s work) [ Google Scholar ]
• Karim A., Amin S. The impact of population growth on the economic growth of selected South Asian countries: a panel cointegration analysis. J. Account. Finance Econom. 2018; 8 (3):17–34. [ Google Scholar ]
• Khalid M.A., Noor Z.M. Military expenditure and economic growth in developing countries: evidence from system GMM estimates. J. Emerg. Trends Econ. Manag. Sci. 2018; 9 (2):90–98. [ Google Scholar ]
• Klein T. “Military expenditure and economic growth: Peru 1970–1996. Defence Peace Econ. 2004; 15 (3):275–288. [ Google Scholar ]
• Knight M., Loayza N., Villanueva D. Policy Research Working Paper 1577. The World Bank Policy Research Department Macroeconomics and Growth Division and International Monetary Fund; 1996. The peace dividend: military spending cuts and economic growth. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lee C.C., Chen S.T. Do defence expenditures spur GDP? A panel analysis from OECD and non-OECD countries. Defence Peace Econ. 2007; 18 (3):265–280. [ Google Scholar ]
• Levin A., Lin C., Chu C.-J. Unit Root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties. J. Econom. 2002; 108 :1–24. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lim D. Another look at growth and defense in less developed countries. Econ. Dev. Cult. Change. 1983; 31 (2):377–384. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lobont O.R., Glont O.R., Badea L., Vatavu S. Quality & Quantity ; 2019. Correlation of Military Expenditures and Economic Growth: Lessons for Romania. [ Google Scholar ]
• Looney R.E., Frederiksen P.C. Defense expenditures, external public debt and growth in developing countries. J. Peace Res. 1986; 23 (4):329–338. [ Google Scholar ]
• Maddala G.S., Wu S. A comparative study of unit root tests with panel data and a new simple test. Oxf. Bull. Econ. Stat. 1999; 61 (S1):631–652. [ Google Scholar ]
• Malizard J. Causality between economic growth and military expenditure: the case of France. Defense Secur. Anal. 2010; 26 (4):401–413. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mankiw N.G., Romer D., Weil D.N. A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. Q. J. Econ. 1992; 107 :407–437. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mohanty R.K., Panda S., Bhuyan B. “Does defence spending and its composition affect economic growth in India?” Margin . J. Appl. Econom. Res. 2020; 14 (1):62–85. [ Google Scholar ]
• Narayan P.K., Singh B. Modelling the relationship between defense spending and economic growth for the Fiji Islands. Defence Peace Econ. 2007; 18 (4):391–401. [ Google Scholar ]
• Owen A.B. A robust hybrid of lasso and ridge regression. Contemp. Math. 2007; 443 :59–71. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pesaran M.H. University of Cambridge, Faculty of Economics; 2004. General Diagnostic Tests for Cross Section Dependence in Panels. Cambridge Working Papers in Economics No. 0435. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pesaran M.H., Shin Y. An autoregressive distributed lag modelling approach to cointegration analysis. In: Strom S., editor. Chapter 11 in Econometrics and Economic Theory in the 20th Century: the Ragnar Frisch Centennial Symposium . Cambridge University Press; Cambridge: 1999. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pesaran M.H., Shin Y., Smith R.P. Pooled mean group estimation of dynamic heterogeneous panels. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 1999; 94 (446):621–634. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pitselis G. A review on robust estimators applied to regression credibility. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 2013; 239 :231–249. [ Google Scholar ]
• Raju M.H., Ahmed Z. Effect of military expenditure on economic growth: evidences from India Pakistan and China using cointegration and causality analysis. Asian J. German Eur. Stud. 2019; 4 (3):1–8. [ Google Scholar ]
• Russett B. Who pays for defense? Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. 1969; 63 (2):4l2–426. [ Google Scholar ]
• Saba C.S., Ngepah N. Military expenditure and economic growth: evidence from a heterogeneous panel of African countries. Econ. Res. 2019; 32 (1):3586–3606. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sheikh M.R., Akhtar M.H., Abbas A., Mushtaq M.I. Military spending, inequality and economic growth: evidence from Pakistan. Pakistan Econ. Soc. Rev. 2017; 55 (2):491–509. [ Google Scholar ]
• SIPRI . 2020. Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019. https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/global-military-expenditure-sees-largest-annual-increase-decade-says-sipri-reaching-1917-billion Retrieved from. [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith R.P. Military expenditure and capitalism. Camb. J. Econ. 1977; 1 :61–76. [ Google Scholar ]
• Solow R.M. A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Q. J. Econ. 1956; 70 (1):65–94. [ Google Scholar ]
• Solow R.M. Technical change and the aggregate production function. Rev. Econ. Stat. 1957; 39 (3):312–320. [ Google Scholar ]
• Stone S.I., Rose R.A. Social work research and endogeneity bias. J. Soc. Soc. Work. Res. 2011; 2 (2):54–75. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wilcox R.R., Keselman H.J. Modern regression methods that can substantially increase power and provide a more accurate understanding of associations. Eur. J. Pers. 2012; 26 (3):165–174. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wooldridge J.M. Southwestern-Cengage Learning; Mason, OH: 2009. Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach. [ Google Scholar ]
• World Development Indicators . 2020. The World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/country Retrieved. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yildirim J., Sezgin S., Ocal N. Military expenditure and economic growth in Middle Eastern countries: a dynamic panel data analysis. Defence Peace Econ. 2005; 16 (4):283–295. [ Google Scholar ]

• A Beginner’s Guide to IELTS
• Common Grammar Mistakes [for IELTS Writing Candidates]

Writing Correction Service

• Free IELTS Resources
• Practice Speaking Test

Select Page

Government Spending Essays – IELTS Writing

Posted by David S. Wills | Feb 21, 2022 | IELTS Tips , Writing | 0

In IELTS writing task 2, it is quite common to be asked about how governments should spend their money. In fact, I see this so frequently that it is almost a unique topic!

Today, I want to show you a few essays about government spending, looking at some sample answers and language points so that you can better understand how to approach this sort of essay.

Government Spending Essays for Task 2

First of all, let’s look at three IELTS task 2 questions that deal with government spending:

The prevention of health problems and illness is more important than treatment and medicine. Government funding should reflect this. To what extent do you agree?

The world today is a safer place than it was a hundred years ago, and governments should stop spending large amounts of money on their armed forces. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

The restoration of old buildings in major cities around the world causes enormous government expenditure. This money should be used for new housing and road development. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The first question is about how governments should spend money on healthcare , the second is about whether or not they should spend money for military purposes , and the third is about maintaining old building s. As you can see, then, the issue of government funding could be applied to a range of areas.

Also, note the different words and phrases used to introduce the idea of government spending. In the first, it is “government funding,” in the second, “spending” is a verb,” and in the third, it says “government expenditure.”

Vocabulary about Government Spending

When it comes to the topic of government spending, you obviously need to be able to discuss money and specifically large amounts of money. You need to know words and phrases related to government expenditure. Here are some useful ones:

All of these words and phrases will be used in my sample answers below.

You can also see some money idioms here:

When it comes to money verbs, don’t forget that we need to collocate them with certain prepositions. Typically, we say “spend money on”, “invest money in,” or “allocate money for”. There are other common collocations as well. Here are a few examples:

• He spent his birthday money on a new pair of shoes.
• She spent most of her budget on building a social media following.
• We’re going to invest in Apple.
• They invested too much money in that doomed project.
• We saved money on our gas bill by switching providers.

Finally, be careful with the word “budget.” This is one word that I see misused very frequently in IELTS essays. Here is a visual lesson about it, which I posted on Facebook .

You can learn more money vocabulary and also look at some IELTS speaking questions about money in this lesson .

Sample Answers

Ok, now let’s look at my answers to the above questions. These contain the vocabulary I taught you. Take note of how those words and phrases are used.

Essay #1: Government Spending on Healthcare

The prevention of health problems and illness is more important than treatment and medicine. Government funding should reflect this.

To what extent do you agree?

In many countries, government spending on healthcare is a major economic burden. Problems like obesity and heart disease are crippling healthcare systems, and some people suggest that rather than raise taxes to pay for treatments, more money should be invested in preventing these illnesses in the first place. This essay will argue that prevention is better than treatment.

The most obvious benefit of putting prevention before treatment is the reduction in human suffering that would inevitably result. Some of the biggest health problems in modern societies are utterly preventable, and therefore it is reasonable to suggest that money spent this way would cause less anguish. Government campaigns to reduce smoking would reduce cancer rates and this would increase people’s quality of life, and of course end the suffering of people who lose loved ones.

From a purely financial standpoint, it is beneficial to focus on preventing sickness rather than curing it. The cost of treating sick people with expensive medical procedures, equipment, and medicines is vastly higher than the cost of educating people not to smoke, eat unhealthily, or otherwise lead unhealthy lifestyles. Government campaigns have led to huge decreases in smoking in many Western countries, and it is likely that similar campaigns would yield similar results elsewhere. An additional benefit would be the lowering of taxes due to reduced expenditure on healthcare.

In conclusion, preventing a disease makes more sense than waiting to treat it. The benefits to average people and also to governments are significantly higher than simply investing in treatments.

Essay #2: Government Spending on Military

The world today is a safer place than it was a hundred years ago, and governments should stop spending large amounts of money on their armed forces.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

In many developed countries, people discuss the ethics of government spending on military forces, with many people pointing out that it is wasteful. This essay will suggest that they are probably right, but that it is a more complicated situation than they think.

To begin with, it is clear that some countries spend vast sums of money on their militaries when there are many other problems that could be tackled using that money. Between the USA and China, for example, more than $1 trillion is spent per year on equipping their various armed forces and this money could potentially have been invested into protecting the environment, ending homelessness and hunger, or improving education systems. Given that these two nations are highly unlikely to be attacked by any other, it seems absurd that they invest so much money in this way.

However, all of that overlooks the fact that geopolitics is complicated and human nature has some dark elements. Although people live in an unprecedented era of peace, it is nonetheless true that this peace is not guaranteed and that it is predicated to some extent upon the fear of reprisals. The US may seem incredibly wasteful with its military spending, but if it did not maintain such a huge military, other aggressive nations would surely attack their neighbours. They are dissuaded of this by the threat of American intervention. Whilst this is highly problematic as no single country should function as a “world police,” it has certainly helped deter and even end major conflicts over the past half century.

In conclusion, it is not easy to say whether countries should stop spending so much money on their militaries. Indeed, whilst it appears this is a reasonable suggestion, the truth is more complicated.

Essay #3: Government Spending on Old Buildings

The restoration of old buildings in major cities around the world causes enormous government expenditure. This money should be used for new housing and road development.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Government spending is a highly controversial issue because people naturally have different priorities and beliefs. Some of them think that the money spent on the restoration of old buildings is wasteful, but this essay will argue against that notion, suggesting instead that these are essential pieces of a nation’s heritage.

To begin with, it is understandable that people might feel this way because there are numerous ways that a national budget might be spent, and old buildings are probably not high on most people’s lists. However, not everything that is important is obvious and often people do not realise the value of something until it is gone. Around Asia, for example, many countries underwent the same sort of industrial development in just two or three decades that Europe went through over a period of several centuries. As a result, these countries lost most of their ancient buildings, and these cannot be recovered. Many governments fund the construction of replicas, but these obviously lack the authenticity of truly ancient buildings.

Letting these buildings fall into ruin shows a staggering lack of civic pride. Cities and countries must unite to fund the maintenance of important shared spaces, including these historic sites. Without these places, cities begin to look unremarkable and it is hard to tell one place from another. Whilst it is important to devote spending to new projects, governments must not overlook the heritage aspect that defined their city or country over a long period of time, and which continues to mark it in the modern era.

In conclusion, old buildings may seem like a waste of money because they can be expensive to maintain, but they are important in various ways, and so governments should set aside funding to ensure their upkeep. 

About The Author

David S. Wills

David S. Wills is the author of Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' and the founder/editor of Beatdom literary journal. He lives and works in rural Cambodia and loves to travel. He has worked as an IELTS tutor since 2010, has completed both TEFL and CELTA courses, and has a certificate from Cambridge for Teaching Writing. David has worked in many different countries, and for several years designed a writing course for the University of Worcester. In 2018, he wrote the popular IELTS handbook, Grammar for IELTS Writing and he has since written two other books about IELTS. His other IELTS website is called IELTS Teaching.

Related Posts

Describe your Favourite Possession

January 17, 2022

How to Get Better at IELTS Writing by Overcoming Common Mistakes

September 13, 2019

Describe your Hometown [IELTS Cue Card]

February 4, 2020

IELTS Topics: Food

February 10, 2020

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Download my IELTS Books

Recent Posts

• Past Simple vs Past Perfect
• Complex Sentences
• How to Score Band 9 [Video Lesson]
• Taxing Fast Food: Model IELTS Essay
• Airport Vocabulary

Recent Comments

• Daisey Lachut on IELTS Discussion Essays [Discuss Both Views/Sides]
• David S. Wills on Describe a Historical Period
• Siavash on Describe a Historical Period
• fabliha on IELTS Speaking Partners
• tufail khan on IELTS Discussion Essays [Discuss Both Views/Sides]
• Lesson Plans
• Model Essays
• TED Video Lessons
• Weekly Roundup

Understanding Military Essay Topics

Before we dive into the world of military essay topics, let’s first understand what they entail. Military essay topics revolve around history, strategy, ethics, and current affairs. These topics play a significant role in academic writing, allowing students to delve into thought-provoking discussions and analyses within the military context. Students can develop a deeper understanding of military-related issues by exploring military essay topics and contributing to the broader discourse.

 Tips for Selecting and Approaching Military Essay Topics

Choosing the right military essay topic is crucial for a successful and engaging academic writing experience. Here are some valuable tips to help you select and approach military essay topics effectively:

☑️ Follow Your Interests

Start by exploring topics that genuinely interest you. Whether it’s military history, international relations, or ethical dilemmas, choosing a topic that resonates with you will make the research and writing process more enjoyable.

☑️ Narrow Down Your Focus

Military studies encompass a vast array of subjects. To ensure your essay’s depth and coherence, narrow your focus to a specific aspect or time within the military domain. This will allow you to investigate the topic and provide a more focused analysis thoroughly.

☑️ Stay Updated  

Military affairs are constantly evolving. Stay informed about current events, new strategies, and emerging technologies in the military sector. This will enable you to select relevant and timely essay topics that reflect the latest developments and debates.

☑️ Research Extensively

Once you’ve chosen a topic, conduct thorough research to gather reliable and diverse sources. Explore academic journals, books, reputable websites, and expert opinions to understand your chosen subject comprehensively.

☑️ Consider Multiple Perspectives

Military topics often involve complex issues with different viewpoints. Engage with different perspectives and arguments related to your chosen topic. This will strengthen your analysis and showcase a well-rounded understanding of the subject.

☑️ Develop a Clear Thesis

Formulate a strong thesis statement that outlines your main argument or position on the chosen military topic. Your thesis will guide the structure and flow of your essay, providing a clear focus for your writing.

Structuring Your Military Essay

Structuring your military essay effectively is essential for presenting your ideas coherently and persuasively. Consider the following guidelines for the military essay to create a well-organized essay:

🎖 Introduction  

Begin with an engaging introduction that provides context and presents your thesis statement. Grab the reader’s attention and provide a brief overview of the chosen military topic.

🎖 Body Paragraphs

Develop your main arguments or points in separate body paragraphs. Start each paragraph with a clear topic sentence related to your thesis statement. Support your arguments with evidence, examples, and relevant research to strengthen your essay’s credibility.

🎖 Transition Words

Use transition words and phrases to create smooth transitions between paragraphs and ideas. These words help guide the reader through your essay and improve its overall flow.

🎖 Counterarguments  

Acknowledge and address counterarguments to your main points. This demonstrates critical thinking and strengthens your essay by anticipating and refuting opposing viewpoints.

🎖 Conclusion  

Summarize your main arguments and restate your thesis in the conclusion. Provide a concise overview of your essay’s key points and give the reader a thought-provoking final statement.

How to Choose the Right Military Essay Topic 

Selecting a suitable military essay topic holds immense importance in the writing process. It sets the tone for the entire essay and determines the level of engagement of the writer and the reader. Choosing the right topic allows students to showcase their passion, knowledge, and critical thinking skills. It enables them to delve into specific areas of interest within military studies, making their essays more compelling and informative.

The Different Types of Military Essay Topics

Regarding military essay topics, there are various types to consider. Informative military essay topics aim to provide readers with factual information and deep insights into specific military events, strategies, or historical occurrences. On the other hand, argumentative military essay topics encourage students to present and defend their viewpoints on controversial military issues. Persuasive military essay topics prompt students to convince the audience of a particular stance through well-reasoned arguments. Students can choose the approach that best suits their writing style and objectives by exploring these different types of military essay topics.

Guide Through Military Essay Prompts

Military essay prompts act as valuable guides for students. They provide specific directions and questions that inspire creativity and critical thinking. Military essay prompts can spark ideas, guide research, and help structure the essay. Using prompts can be particularly helpful for students who may feel overwhelmed or need help figuring out where to start. They offer a framework that streamlines the essay writing process and ensures students address relevant military themes and concepts.

Utilizing Military Essay Prompts Effectively

When faced with military essay prompts, effective utilization is critical. Begin by thoroughly understanding the prompt and identifying its key components and the desired outcome. Conduct comprehensive background research on the military topic to gather credible information and evidence. Brainstorm ideas and angles related to the prompt, jotting down thoughts and arguments. Create a clear outline to guide your essay’s structure and flow. Craft a strong thesis statement that directly addresses the prompt and guides your essay’s direction. Support your arguments with relevant evidence and examples. Stay focused on the prompt to maintain coherence and relevance. Finally, revise and edit your essay for clarity, coherence, and grammar. Following these tips, you can effectively utilize military essay prompts to create well-structured and insightful essays.

Top 10 Military Essay Topics for Academic Success

To ignite your imagination and inspire your military essay endeavors, we have curated a list of the top 10 military essay topics. These topics encompass various aspects of military studies, from historical events to contemporary challenges. Each topic presents a unique research, analysis, and critical thinking opportunity.

Choose a topic that resonates with your interests and allows you to explore new perspectives within the military domain:

• The Role of Technology in Modern Warfare: Advancements and Implications
• Ethics in the Military: Balancing Duty, Morality, and Consequences
• The Impact of Military Interventions in Conflict Zones: Lessons Learned
• Women in the Military: Breaking Barriers and Shifting Paradigms
• Cyber Warfare: The Invisible Battlefield of the 21st Century
• The Evolution of Military Strategy: From Traditional to Hybrid Warfare
• The Role of Military Intelligence in National Security
• Military Spending and Global Politics: Assessing Priorities and Impacts
• Veterans’ Mental Health: Addressing the Invisible Wounds of War
• The Ethics of Autonomous Weapons: Navigating the Moral Dilemma
• The Impact of Military Drone Technology on Warfare and Ethics
• The Role of Military Intelligence in Counterterrorism Operations
• Military Leadership: Traits, Styles, and their Influence on Success
• The Evolution of Military Tactics: From Ancient Warfare to Modern Strategies
• Nuclear Deterrence: Assessing the Effectiveness and Risks of Nuclear Weapons
• The Military-Industrial Complex: Examining the Relationship between Defense Spending and Corporate Interests
• The Role of Military Forces in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations
• Psychological Effects of Warfare: Understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Veterans
• Military Tribunals: Balancing Justice and National Security in Times of Conflict
• The Ethical Implications of Autonomous Military Technology: Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

⏭ ORDER CUSTOM MILITARY ESSAY ⏮

Tips for Researching and Writing Military Essays

Researching and writing military essays can be a rewarding yet challenging endeavor. To ensure your success, consider these practical tips:

☑️ Conduct thorough research using credible sources, such as academic journals and reputable military publications.

☑️ Organize your thoughts and ideas before writing, outlining the main arguments and supporting evidence.

☑️ Use a clear and concise writing style, ensuring your arguments flow logically and coherently.

☑️ Support your claims with evidence and examples, providing a balanced perspective.

☑️ Revise and edit your essay to refine your arguments, improve clarity, and eliminate grammatical or spelling errors.

Examples of Successful Military Essays

To gain further inspiration and insight, explore examples of successful military essays. These essays showcase exemplary writing and demonstrate how to approach military essay topics effectively. Analyze these essays’ structure, argumentation, and supporting evidence to enhance your writing skills and techniques. Learn from the strengths of these essays and adapt them to your unique writing style.

In academic writing, selecting engaging military essay topics is paramount. It sets the stage for captivating discussions, critical analysis, and insightful research. Students can excel in their military essays by exploring various military essay topics, utilizing prompts, and following practical tips. At Writing Metier , we have a team of writers who can assist you with the Military Essay. Embrace the opportunity to delve into the fascinating world of military studies, contribute to the ongoing discourse, and expand your knowledge and understanding of the military domain ( order military essay right now ) . Let your words resonate and captivate, and may your military essays inspire and inform yourself and your readers.

Free topic suggestions

Laura Orta is an avid author on Writing Metier's blog. Before embarking on her writing career, she practiced media law in one of the local media. Aside from writing, she works as a private tutor to help students with their academic needs. Laura and her husband share their home near the ocean in northern Portugal with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books.

Similar posts

Discover an Array of Engaging Military Essay Topics that will Ignite Your Curiosity

What is a Military Essay? Types, format and structure

What is a Military Essay? A military essay is a form of academic writing that examines different aspects of the military, including its history, strategy, operations, and societal influence. It allows students to delve into complex military topics and showcase their research and analytical skills.

How to write an Essay on Military Leadership?

Through a balanced narrative, we aim to unravel the essence of military leadership.

How to write an Essay on Army Values?

Army values, deeply entrenched in military ethos, serve as guiding beacons not just for soldiers but for society at large. These principles of loyalty, respect, and selfless service are more than mere words; they are the very foundation upon which harmonious societies can be built.

Military Ethics Paper Topics🎖️

Explore the intricate ethical dimensions within the military while selecting an engaging paper topic. Analyze the foundational principles guiding ethical decision-making and examine current dilemmas that challenge military professionals.

Military Topics for Research Paper

Military Topics for Research Paper - article offers students a guided exploration into the undercurrents of these pivotal regions, inviting fresh perspectives and deep understanding. Key global regions with this guide.

Step-by-Step Guide For Writing ‘I Want to Be a Soldier’ Essay 🪖

Step-by-Step Guide For Writing ‘I Want to Be a Soldier Essay guide will walk you through the process of crafting an impactful essay that captures your passion and dedication to joining the military

Veterans Day Essay Tips & Tricks 🎖️

Veterans Day, commemorating the courage and sacrifices of those who've served, ensuring a legacy of honor and freedom for future generations.

Veterans Essay Ideas

The heroics and sacrifices of veterans through writing can be a profoundly enlightening endeavor. In the 'Veterans Essay Ideas', we explore a plethora of topics.

War Essay Titles

Choosing topics from the monumental World Wars to the intricacies of modern military strategies, these titles serve as a gateway to unravel the complex nature of conflict.

We rely on cookies to give you the best experince on our website. By browsing, you agree to it. Read more

166 Military Essay Topics

Looking for some military topics for discussion? You’re in the right place! We’ve gathered here a list of hot military persuasive essay topics to boost your creativity! Our unique army persuasive essay topics will inspire your presentation or research paper.

🏆 Hot Military Topics for Discussion

✍️ military essay topics for college, 👍 good military research topics & essay examples, 💡 simple military essay topics, 🎓 most interesting army persuasive essay topics, ❓ military research questions.

• Information Technology Implications for Military
• Interpersonal Communication in the Military
• Military Mindset: Leadership, Discipline, Resilience, and Teamwork
• Training and Development in Military Units
• Military Tactics of Alexander the Great
• Human Resource Competencies in the Military
• A Stress Management Program for the Military
• Topographic Symbols in Military Maps Symbols in an army map should be easily understood and communicate landscape elements to military personnel, thus making vital contributions to navigation and operations.
• The Role of Soft Skills in Military Operations Soft skills are built upon hard skills but include communication skills and sociocultural competence necessitated by the nature of military operations.
• Justification for the Use of Military Force Military intervention was a feasible alternative for averting external aggression in the past, and it is still the most viable option for fighting global terrorism.
• Military Bases on Okinawa: Impact on Economy The American military based on the territory of Japan, Okinawa in particular, has a certain impact on the country’s economic and political relations.
• Stress in the Military A study conducted by the Careercast.com in 2013 indicated that the military working environment was characterized by numerous stressors.
• Maintaining and Not Losing Equipment in the Military Understanding the importance of maintaining and not losing equipment in the military depends on three aspects – availability, quality, and personal needs.
• Military Diversity: US Army The article focuses on the need and benefits of ensuring cultural and racial diversity, as well as gender balance in the US military.
• Sexual Harassment and Assault in the Military The marines are extremely negatively disposed towards the presence of female soldiers in their combat formations.
• Military Social Worker’s Qualities and Skills This essay describes personal and leadership qualities that need to have in the perfect candidate for being a military social worker.
• COVID-19 Impact on Military Supply Chain Management In the military, logistics managers should get and deliver equipment and supplies to troops, which affects national security and is a relevant issue that requires a solution.
• Internet-of-Things in the Military and Its Feasibility This paper provides an analysis of the Internet of Military Things functions and a description of its feasibility in the future and its associated costs.
• The Foundation of Army Leadership and Military Training One of the aims of military leadership is to prepare soldiers for the defensive mission. Army leaders provide direction and set goals for the subordinates to achieve successfully.
• Fire Support Planning in Military Fire support planning is an efficient practice aimed at improved cooperation and coordination between all fire teams.
• Military Organization: Leveraging Human Capital The discussion outlines various approaches that can be used in the targeted military organization to leverage human capital.
• Foundation of Army Leadership: Military Culture and Its Impact on Mental Health The pillars of military leadership are character, presence, and intellect. The character may be described as an individual’s distinct mental and moral attributes.
• Leadership Deficiency in the Military Destructive leadership strategy contributes to the concept of adequate leadership deficiency in the US military today and presents a major problem for soldiers and officers.
• Combat to Corporate: Migrating from Military Leadership to Business Military leadership and civilian business leadership rely on overlapping sets of leadership skills and personal traits.
• Egyptian Military Potential Analysis The Egyptian military potential is large compared to many other countries. The country is highly equipped with heavy ground and air techniques.
• Religious Studies and Theology: Paganism in the Military Paganism has spread far and wide in society. From academia to the military, the practice of paganism is being accepted and accommodated just like other religions.
• Military Drones: Innovation Project Unmanned aerial vehicles have revolutionized modern-day wars and the approach that is used to collect data, especially in locations deemed unsafe for military personnel.
• Positive Psychology for Military Leadership Leadership in the military is a complex task given the adverse working environment of officers especially during and after deployment.
• Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life People who have participated in a war, killed someone, or became injured due to others’ actions take much time to recover.
• The King Fahd Military Medical Complex: Patient Improvement This report discusses decrease length of stay and improve patient workflow at the King Fahd Military Medical Complex’s accident and emergency department.
• Napoleon’s Achievements and Military Campaigns Napoleon was one of the greatest men in the history of humanity. Being a brilliant commander, he managed to win a number of significant battles and create new efficient strategies.
• Domestic Violence in the Military Domestic violence is a pervasive problem connected with PTSD, subsequent substance abuse, and occupational hazards that increase stress and result in marital conflict.
• Reason for the Roman Military’s Success This essay will argue that the main reason for the Roman military success was not only strong discipline and hard training but also a careful selection of recruit.
• Shooting at Military Recruiting Center: Identification, Description, Historical Background The attack occurred at Chattanooga, when a 24-year old Kuwaiti gunman stormed a military recruiting station and opened fire to trainees.
• Belize’s Military Capability Belize’s military potential is limited to border protection with minimal assault capabilities. The major factor disrupting stable affairs is its dispute with Guatemala.
• Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice For applying the provisions of Article 86 there must be proof that the accused had actual knowledge of the time and place where he was required to be present.
• Military Forces in the Twenty-First Century This essay aims to show that in the twenty-first century the military forces will be directed more toward peace and security maintenance issues around the world.
• When Is the Use of Military Force Justified? Current justification of the use of military force is quite reasonable, but it is still far too loose for being used only in the instances that cannot be addressed with the help of diplomacy.
• Customs and Courtesies in the Military: Survey Feedback Use of survey feedback as a means of improving safety culture and consciousness in the U. S. army has increased staff awareness of safety and risks while on and off-duty.
• The Canadian Armed Forces: Impact of Military History Understanding Canada’s military history and the divergent local and international relations contributes to appreciating the core values of service in the Canadian Armed Forces.
• An Effective Leadership Style in Military Units This paper proposes a research study intended to gather more information regarding different types of leadership in military units.
• Veterans’ Transition From the Military to Civilian Life This paper examines the main problems encountered by veterans during the transition from the military to civilian life, for example, social stigmas and drug abuse.
• Closing the Gap Between Military Service and Civilian Career A gulf between Military Service and Civilian careers prevents veterans from successfully integrating into society after military service.
• Army Leadership and Military Profession Leadership is a term that refers to the process of motivating and directing people to achieve common goals. It can also be defined as the ability of an influence.
• Ancient History: The Key Military Periods In the ancient history, the key military periods are connected with the Trojan, Messenian, and Greco-Persian wars, the campaigns of Alexander the Great, and the Hellenistic wars.
• Military Spending and the US Foreign Policy Military spending has become an issue of debate in recent years as a section of the United States population believes it may be affecting other sectors.
• Analysis of The British Military Aircraft Incident The incident occurred on July 22, 1966, at RAF Lyneham Air Force Base (Chippenham, UK) while maintaining a Lightning F53 supersonic interceptor aircraft.
• The Issue of Military Aviation Crashes Military aviation is one of the most complex elements of the military system. The paper discusses the issue of aviation crashes and recommendations for its addressing.
• Military Violence: Negative Impact on Society This paper focuses on military violence and its negative impact on society. Gun violence is a critically relevant topic that affects all segments of the population of the US.
• Military Aviation Safety and Human Factor The current report examines the connection between military aviation safety and the human factor, exploring the most pressing concerns within the topic.
• The Rise of Sexual Assault in the US Military The paper explores why the numbers of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault cases continue to rise throughout the Army, despite all the training that takes place.
• Tahtib: Egyptian Sports and Military Game Both competing audiences benefit from the beauty and constancy of tahtib skills and rhythm, which have evolved over their long history.
• The Issue of Rising Levels of Opioid Addiction in the Military The proposed research will seek to establish the correlation between veterans’ injuries and opioid addictions among this population.
• The Military Profession’s Culture and Ethics This paper analyzes the military profession, its culture, and ethics which are vital factors for the military human resource specialist.
• Expenditures for Pensions, Social Welfare, and Military It is no mystery that the U.S. military budget is the biggest in the world with a significant margin, even despite the absence of imminent global threats.
• US Military Interventions Between 1918 and 1962 This paper provides a review of U.S. military interventions between 1918 and 1962, discussing the effectiveness and pros and cons of military operations.
• Human Resources in Military Sphere The army is responsible for the country’s security and includes many representatives in various positions – from generals to ordinary soldiers.
• Alexander the Great: The World’s Greatest Military General Alexander III of Macedon, known worldwide as Alexander the Great, is frequently regarded as one of the world’s greatest military generals of all time.
• The Collective Unity Against Military Might The colonists managed to be victorious against a greater and stronger army of the British empire due to superior leadership, consolidation of alliances, and military strategies.
• When the U.S. Military Strikes While the state of war between the parties can be questioned on the international level, the US authorities are clear in their reasoning and intentions.
• World War II: Maskirovka Military Deception and Denials Operations This paper investigates the impact of maskirovka military deception and denials operations, a component of information warfare. The case study is set during World War II.
• Warfare Theories, Military Technology and Pacifism Warfare generally denotes the intentional and consistent military action among independent nations or states until the defeat of the opponent.
• Hurricane Katrina: Military and Civilian Response One of the three most dramatic catastrophes of the millennium, hurricane Katrina highlighted weak points of government and military forces.
• Omar Nelson Bradley in American Military History Omar Nelson Bradley is one of the most influential military people in the history of the United States. He was assigned by the President to several military positions.
• Media Coverage of Transgender Policy in Military This paper aims to provide an annotated bibliography for the ten articles related to the topic of media coverage of transgender policy in the military.
• History of the US Military The US military is presently seen not just as the most impressive and exceptional outfitted power on the planet yet one with a multifaceted administrative role also.
• “Yankee Blitzkrieg”: Historical Assessment of the Former Military “Yankee Blitzkrieg” is a book describing the largest mounted expedition led by James H. Wilson; it is characterized by consistency, clarity, and innovative narrative tactics.
• Secondary Traumatization of PTSD Among Children in Military Families Military officers and veterans work in highly stressful environments, hence, experiencing different levels of PTSD depending on the armed nature of a given conflict.
• Military Sexual Trauma: PTSD in Female Veterans The following paper suggests a literature review on the subject of post traumatic stress disorder associated with military sexual trauma in female veterans.
• Transition from Military Service to Entrepreneurship Identifying the positive and negative traits acquired during military service is an essential aspect of studying the success of veterans in entrepreneurship.
• Analysis of LGBT Integration in Military The study examines integrating LGBT people into the army and identified the main points that influenced the formation of acceptance of gays, lesbians, and transsexuals.
• Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory in Regard to Military Veterans With PTSD To sum up, if the experiment proves reliable and valid, the application for those who have PTSD may be improved or facilitated for everyday use.
• Cognitive Behavior Theory for Military Veteran Cognitive behavior theory is based on the idea that an individual is able to alter their behavior by interfering with their thought patterns.
• Sexual Harassment in the U.S. Military: Addressing the Issue This essay will address sexual assaults in the U.S. military, examine possible causes, and acknowledge possible solutions.
• Military Leadership: Combat Bunker to the Corporate Boardroom The research on the topic of leadership management is substantial, filled with primary and secondary sources covering the various aspects of theoretical and practical discussions.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Military Militants experience a significant number of traumatic events that subject them to PTSD. The culture of the military plays a significant role in promoting veteran mental wellness.
• Military Leadership Traits Migration into Business Recently, society has been observing military people’s tendency to transition into entrepreneurs, and this phenomenon becomes increasingly popular annually.
• Combat to Corporate: Military Traits in Business The investigation aims to determine what military traits are most likely to be incorporated into a business sphere and how they can benefit it.
• The Counterterrorism Tasks by the Military and Government The US government works with other governments to fight against terrorism. Efforts are made to discourage and anticipate attacks by apprehending the individuals.
• Power, Influence, and Communications Within a Military Setting There are five primary types of power that can be exercised to gain influence over others, they include coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent power.
• Political Science: Human Security & Revolution-in-Military-Affairs The major susceptibilities and challenges include protracted violence and political conflicts, diseases, epidemics, natural calamities, economic crises and ethnic violence.
• The History of Women in the United States Military The increase of the part of women in the military of USA is not steady but concurs with the periods of wars when they could prove the irreplaceability of their skills.
• The President’s and Congress’s Powers Regarding Using Military Forces The powers of the US President consist of the powers admitted by Article II of the US Constitution, powers accepted by Acts of Congress, and, besides, there is soft power.
• Mental Health Stigma for Military Man and Civilians This source will contribute to my research regarding comparing the mental disorder stigma among civilians and military veterans.
• Correlation Between Military Leaders and Cultural Diversity The article discusses the need for modern military personnel to be trained as leaders, free from cultural bias in their views and actions.
• Diversity in the Military The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of human diversity and its usefulness in a military context.
• Military Conflict and Involvement Consequences Humanity entered the era of humanism, characterized by the great attention to human rights, the man in the whole, and by the constant wars and military conflicts.
• Mental Health Conditions Among Military Veterans The research will analyze whether the incidence of symptoms and their link to individuals’ experiences relate to their military service
• American-Japanese Military and Race Conflicts in the Book “War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War” The issues of prejudice, tunnel vision and inability to see the situation from all sides are described in the present book.
• Involuntary Discharged Military Personnel Transitioning into Civilian Workforce Most of the findings of many researchers have focused on veterans and former employees who exited the profession voluntarily.
• The Children Use in Military Activities The issue of children serving as soldiers in military conflicts is sensitive indeed. The increasing use of children in military conflicts has grown and threatens the social fibre.
• Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Gays in the Us Military Homosexuals in the military have always had to hide their sexual orientation to prevent discrimination, incrimination, or even discharge from service.
• Military Leadership Characteristics in U.S.A The army of the United States has professional military ethics, which states that a military leader should be loyal to his or her nation and unit.
• Military Service: The Obligation of the American Citizens Joining the military is associated with various benefits. It is a good opportunity for one to realize their patriotism in addition to educational standards.
• Critical Decisions Making: Get Out of the Military This analysis will help me get the best out of the decision by avoiding the various biases to come to a better decision.
• EU Requirement of Common Foreign and Military Policy This paper discusses the need for a common foreign and military policy for the EU. The European Union is at the forefront in asserting itself to play a role in world affairs.
• Gays in the Military: Current Situation and Problems While much effort is being put in to allow the marriage of persons of the same sex, this has not affected the military, since homosexuals are barred from taking up in the military.
• Homeland Security: The Role of the US Military Increased military involvement in homeland security better prepares the country for multiple disasters as it expands its capacity.
• American Public Attitudes to Overseas Military Deployment This essay will discuss the role of the increased media coverage in the shaping of the attitudes of Americans towards military activity abroad.
• Hiring Prior Military for a Job An increasing number of the citizen-soldier population gives the Government few reasons to provide such people with guarantees of their employment.
• US Military Overseas Commitments North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance which was formed by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in the year 1949.
• To Have or Not to Have a Military Draft To have or not to have a military draft is a debate that has sparked many views nationwide. America has not had a military draft since 1973.
• Immediate Troop-Withdrawal Plan: Withdrawal of the American Military Forces From Iraq There was increased debate on whether to withdraw the American Military forces from Iraq since they were the once who were behind the war that was in Iraq that lasted for a period of five years.
• Generation Kill: Stanley McChrystal’s Military Approach McChrystal reorganized the approach American Special Forces took towards operations. Some people praise his achievements in creating a superior precision killing machine.
• Military Transition to Civilian Life As the target audience for this study, first-generation Latinos are involved, who have completed military service and moved on to civilian life.
• Transforming Military Logistic Systems in the Department of Defense Technology has indeed helped resolve some of the world’s greatest challenges. For this reason, it is viable to argue that tech can be used to solve challenges faced within supply chain management.
• Social Adaptation of Former Military Members Social adaptation to civilian life of former members of the military is a unique and significant area of inquiry.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans Both in the military and civilian life, people encounter traumatic occurrences that challenge their perception of the world or themselves.
• Technology Influences That Affect the Military This work is aimed at identifying significant factors that influence the activities of the military and modern national security standards.
• When Military Force Is Justified The use of military force should be the last option after all other dispute resolution mechanisms have failed. This paper discusses cases where military force is justified.
• Unity of Command in Military Operation Anaconda The major purpose of the unity of command is to arrange the effective operation of various forces under the authority of a single commander.
• Alexander the Great as a Military General Whereas some sources claim that Alexander’s military tactics borrowed heavily from those of his father, Philip II of Macedonia, there are critics who believe that they did not.
• United States Military Veteran Suicides and Causes Researchers have not agreed on the exact causes of suicide cases in the US military. Initially, it was assumed that deployment was a risk factor for this behavior.
• Military Commissions and Terrorism Prevention The measures aimed at reducing the spread of international terrorism should align with international laws. The legal authority of military commissions should be discussed.
• The Level of Military Service Organization in the US The paper analysis the idea to optimize the core activities of military HR professionals to the level that is demonstrated by the representatives from the Department of Defense (DOD).
• Military Human Resource Professionals: Activities Optimization Civilian and military managers are the members of the team that is responsible for appropriate and effective services offered to people who are engaged in military life.
• American Military Management Systems Assessment Adequate assessment of sources of potential threats can increase national safety with regard to numerous messages that are used by terrorists.
• Asian International Politics and Military Conflicts The Cold War mentality of Japan was that of strengthening ties with Western powers to contain other Asian emerging powers.
• Management Styles in the Military Field Organizations want to outperform their competitors and choose management styles that fit their organizational and market realities.
• Strategic Thinking and Military Lessons Strategic thinking enables a person to reach levels that one could have otherwise not reached if they were to work in a conventional manner.
• Military Veterans’ Mental Health Needs The topic of the study concerns the mental health needs of veterans who suffer different types of disorders as the result of their military service.
• The Massive Military’s Layoff of the Obama Administration This paper discusses the massive layoff within the military during the Obama administration using the four-frame model.
• WWI and Interwar Military Innovations WWI triggered the development of an array of interwar military innovations. Today specialization is common in contemporary military forces.
• American Military Approaches in the East This work discusses questions related to the Korean War, US military approaches in Vietnam, Vietnamization, the Arab-Israeli war, and the American way of war.
• Military Treatment, Success, and Diverse Groups This paper highlights the correlation between the integration of the micro and macro-sociological theories and the successful treatment of diverse groups.
• Military Personnel and Psychological Risks Researchers have discovered that the sense of loneliness is one of the risk factors that potentially cause various mental disorders among active-duty soldiers.
• Military on the US Southern Border Even serving at the southern border, the military will not be able to serve all issues associated with the case of Mexico.
• Discipline Implementation in Military Environment The state of the army leaves much to be desired regarding the discipline levels and the allocation of the army resources. Immediate actions should be taken to handle the problem.
• Bereaved Military Children: Group Intervention Bereavement is one of the most stressful events, and it is closely linked to anxiety, depression, fear, aggressiveness, and regression.
• The Great Depression and Military Spending The Great Depression had a devastating impact on the US economy. But military spending could be consider the main tool of it ended and promoting the growth of the industrial sector.
• Military Spending by the Government of the United States The US federal government allocates excess resources to its military, and some money could assist in other areas of the economy.
• Military Policy that Should Be Changed The military is a secret organization that does not disclose its activities to the public, mainly because of the strict rules and regulations. Some of how things are conducted ought to be changed.
• Stealth Aircraft Support in the United States Military This paper will argue that maintaining an edge on military technology and the air force is crucial for the US by giving reasons why it is important for the US military to have stealth aircrafts.
• Automated vs. Military Pitot Static Tester The report proposes that the Military Pitot Static Model is much better than the 6300 model. However, diligence should be observed depending on the aircraft that is being tested.
• Military Medical Assets Usage In case of an emergency, not only the ability of the military services to locate and utilize the required sources, but also the capability of the military people to cooperate.
• Political Issues: The United States Military The military has one of the most advanced technologies in the world, as soldiers have to face the harshest conditions in their service and general life.
• What Is a Military System of Government?
• What Is the Name of a Military Force Made up of Civilians?
• Does the US Military Have the Death Penalty?
• Who Was the First Military Governor of Florida?
• What Military Technologies Did the Industrial Revolution Provide to Europeans?
• Is Military Government Undemocratic?
• Did President Truman Improperly Interfere in Military Operations in Korea?
• Is Egypt a Military Dictatorship?
• Does the Military Generate Any Revenue for a Country?
• What Military Need Led to the Production of Liberty Ships?
• Why Do Southern States Have So Many Military Bases?
• What Historical Discipline Does Military Science Cover?
• What Is a Pincer Movement in Military Strategy?
• How Were African Nations Affected by Military Rule and Dictatorship?
• How Is the US Military Restricted by the Third Amendment?
• Why Do We Need to Study Military History?
• How Is the Social Problem of the Military’s Transition to Civilian Life Solved?
• Were Soldiers Called Military in the Middle Ages?
• Did the Byzantine Empire Have a Strong Military?
• Who Created the Military Phonetic Alphabet?
• Are Military Police Sworn Officers?
• What Military Technology Was Used in the Battle of Ypres?
• Is Cognitive Dissonance Used in the Military?
• Are Members of the Military Government Employees?
• What Is the Purpose of the Military Annual Percentage Rate?
• What Is the Significance of Military Tribunals in Today’s Environment?
• What Is the Largest Military Cemetery in the United States?
• How Many Five Star Generals Are in Us Military History?
• How Did Bushido Contribute to Japanese Military Aggression?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 166 Military Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/military-essay-topics/

"166 Military Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 9 Sept. 2021, studycorgi.com/ideas/military-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2021) '166 Military Essay Topics'. 9 September.

1. StudyCorgi . "166 Military Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/military-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "166 Military Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/military-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "166 Military Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/military-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Military were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 8, 2024 .

• Air Warfare
• Cyber (Opens in new window)
• C4ISR (Opens in new window)
• Training & Sim
• Asia Pacific
• Mideast Africa
• The Americas
• Top 100 Companies
• Defense News Weekly
• Money Minute
• Whitepapers & eBooks (Opens in new window)
• DSDs & SMRs (Opens in new window)
• Webcasts (Opens in new window)
• Events (Opens in new window)
• Newsletters (Opens in new window)
• Events Calendar
• Early Bird Brief
• Digital Edition (Opens in new window)

Pacific problems: Why the US disagrees on the cost of deterring China

In 2020, Mac Thornberry wanted to answer two questions: How much is the U.S. spending to prevent a war with China, and is it enough?

These were difficult, even for the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. And he wasn’t the only one asking. Thornberry often traveled to Asia, where U.S. allies had the same questions. Thornberry didn’t know what to tell them.

“What do we have to offer?” he said.

For two years, Congress had asked the Pentagon for a report on how much extra money it needed for the Pacific region, but never received one. So Congress demanded one.

“The attitude was, tell us what you need and we’ll try to help,” Thornberry said during a recent interview. “Well, if they’re not going to tell us, then we’re going to tell them.”

The defense policy bill for fiscal 2021 — named for Thornberry, who was retiring — created the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a new section of the defense budget. PDI had two goals: to push the Pentagon to spend more on the region and to make that money easier to track.

Four years later, PDI has done only one of those two things, according to experts. It has certainly made China-focused defense spending more transparent, but it hasn’t driven much new spending on the Pacific. In fact, the part of America’s defense budget created to help deter a war with China has no actual money.

“Your priorities are always better reflected in your budget rather than in your rhetoric,” Thornberry said.

Whether those two areas match up may be the most important question in American defense policy right now. The last three administrations have decided China is America’s top threat, and a rising one at that. But it’s less clear how much money it will cost to address it and who gets to decide — Congress, the Pentagon or military leaders in the Pacific?

“I don’t think that we are somehow dangerously short of funding for the Indo-Pacific, whether it’s PDI or not,” Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, told Defense News in February.

“We’re going in the right direction, but the question is: Are we going there fast enough?”

A second opinion

This was the question that led to PDI.

In 2021, the head of Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Phil Davidson, was in Washington ahead of his planned retirement to testify before Congress . Davidson hadn’t appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee in two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Early on, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., presented a set of charts during a short call and response. Wicker read a list projecting the number of Chinese and American weapons in the region by 2025, asking Davidson to check his numbers.

Three Chinese aircraft carriers to America’s one. Six Chinese amphibious assault ships to America’s two. Fifty-four Chinese combat ships to America’s six.

The admiral confirmed each one.

“Our conventional deterrent is actually eroding in the region,” Davidson said.

What concerned him most was not that Beijing had a more powerful military overall; it was a problem of speed and distance. Taiwan — which the Chinese government considers a rogue province and has threatened to take back by force — is about 100 miles from the mainland. It’s more than 5,000 miles from Hawaii, the headquarters of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

It would take three weeks for the U.S. to rush ships to the area from the West Coast, and around 17 days to do so from Alaska, Davidson estimated. If China launched a rapid invasion, it might overwhelm Taiwan before the U.S. had a chance to arrive.

A soldier launches an American-made TOW 2A missile during a live-fire exercise in Pingtung County, Taiwan, on July 3, 2023. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

“The important factor here is time,” he said.

Davidson’s answer, and that of many committee members, was to push America’s forces closer to Taiwan — the military version of a full-court press. But the U.S. didn’t yet have the necessary infrastructure in place. It would need to construct bases, airfields, radars and other buildings along the Pacific islands that arc around Taiwan.

And this would cost money — lots of money.

PDI was, at first, meant to be the source of that money. To understand why, it’s important to understand how the Pentagon writes its budget.

The process depends mostly on the military services — in particular the Army, Navy and Air Force. These services hold about four-fifths of defense spending each year and direct where that money goes.

Their incentives are different from those of the seven geographic combatant commands, who carry out America’s military goals around the world. Given their roles, the commands often focus on shorter-term needs. Hence, the services often don’t fund everything the combatant commands want.

To lawmakers, the gap seemed especially wide in the Pacific, where China has spent the last two decades upgrading its military.

Noticing this problem, lawmakers as far back as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2017 wanted to fund Indo-Pacific Command’s goals with a separate account — something Thornberry also later supported.

It didn’t come together until three years later. In May 2020, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee announced plans for a Pacific Deterrence Initiative that would reassure U.S. allies and improve its forces.

It had five goals: to improve presence, logistics, exercises, infrastructure and the strength of partners in the Pacific. The bill also added a voice to the budgeting process. Indo-Pacific Command would now give Congress an annual second opinion on America’s military needs in the region.

There was, however, a structural problem. The lawmakers that created PDI didn’t actually get any money for it. The policy bill named for Thornberry gave the Pentagon about $2 billion in authority for the effort but not permission to spend it. That would’ve required a signoff from the defense appropriations committees, who control the nation’s purse.

Those committees balk at initiatives like PDI, according to multiple congressional aides, because passing them makes it harder to write a defense budget — the same reason it’s harder to write a recipe when someone else decides your shopping list.

U.S. Army soldiers and Indonesia airborne troops conduct a joint forcible entry operation at Baturaja Training Area on Aug. 4, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Thomas Calvert/U.S. Army)

“The hope was for the following year that the appropriations and the budget would match,” said Kimberly Lehn, a former aide on the House Armed Services Committee who helped write the PDI legislation.

That didn’t happen, and by the time Davidson testified before Congress a year later, the initiative had become an accounting drill.

Think about it like a home improvement fund. If you want an upgrade — say, a nicer kitchen — then you have two options: Earn more money or spend less money elsewhere. Instead, PDI was, and still is, implemented in reverse. Each year, the Pentagon builds its budget and then reviews it to see what contributes to deterrence in the Pacific. It then labels that as PDI and highlights the total number in its budget request.

“It reflects their decisions, it doesn’t drive their decisions,” said Dustin Walker, a former Senate Armed Services Committee aide who helped write the PDI legislation and now works at the drone-maker Anduril.

‘Free chicken’

This was not the model PDI’s authors had in mind.

“It started basically as a straight copycat of [the] European Deterrence Initiative,” Walker said, referring to an effort that stemmed from Russia’s 2014 seizure and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

The Obama administration wanted to show commitment to NATO allies rattled by war on the continent. The government did so within months using what it originally dubbed the European Reassurance Initiative .

Russian soldiers patrol outside the naval headquarters in Simferopol on March 19, 2014. Russia's Constitutional Court unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin's move to make Crimea part of Russia. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. forces in Europe had declined for decades after the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s — down to about 62,000 personnel by 2016 . The smaller size made sense in Europe given there were fewer needs for America’s military muscle. But Russia’s invasion showed how far readiness had fallen, said Tod Wolters, the former head of U.S. European Command.

With the European Deterrence Initiative, the administration wanted to bulk up.

“We knew that we could not go back to Cold War status, with the number of forces that were going to be in the theater. So the question became: How do we make sure that we can rapidly deploy combat power?” said Al Viana, who works in European Command’s force structure and requirements office.

This became the focus of EDI, whose name changed in 2018 when it became clear Russia’s military activities in the region weren’t coming to an end. From 2015 to 2023, the U.S. spent $35 billion on the effort to empower allies and ensure its own forces were more agile. The second goal required funding to run more exercises, rotate more troops, improve infrastructure and store important equipment on the continent.

By the end of fiscal 2014 , European Command had dissolved two heavy combat brigades. However, EDI helped rebuild those forces — deferring cuts to Air Force personnel, supporting a combat aviation brigade and making sure the Army had an armored brigade combat team rotating through the theater. In FY16, the Army’s forces in Europe conducted 26 total exercises per year . By 2023, that number was around 50.

In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine , the U.S. surged 20,000 extra personnel to Europe. That included an armored brigade combat team — including about 4,000 personnel, 90 tanks and more than 200 other vehicles — which arrived within a week from notification. Without those stocks already stored in the theater, it would’ve taken between four and six weeks, according to U.S. Army Europe and Africa.

“EDI is the place to go and see exactly what we’re doing,” Viana said.

The two initiatives’ different fates come almost entirely down to money. EDI was paid for through an account called overseas contingency operations, more commonly referred to as OCO (pronounced like “cocoa”). That fund started for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, supplementing the annual Pentagon budget.

“EDI was easy because you weren’t fighting with a service,” a senior defense official told Defense News, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not permitted to talk to the press. “It was free chicken.”

By the start of this decade, Congress had soured on OCO, partly because the Pentagon used it to dodge some budget cuts it faced in the 2010s. Lawmakers called it a slush fund.

This meant the Pacific Deterrence Initiative didn’t get any extra funding. The European counterpart transitioned away from supplemental money in fiscal 2022 , and its funding amounts since then have steadily dropped.

Amphibious armored vehicles attached to a brigade of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps make their way to a beach during maritime amphibious assault training in China's Guangdong province on Aug. 17, 2019. (Yan Jialuo and Yao Guanchen/Chinese Defense Ministry)

The result is that many items Indo-Pacific Command lists in its annual report to Congress — the things the command says it needs to maintain its strength in the region — aren’t funded. So the command just resubmits those unfunded priorities on top of additional needs in the next year’s report. Hence, each year’s dollar amount snowballs.

When Davidson testified before Congress in 2021, his report listed $4.7 billion in requirements. This year, the number was $26.5 billion — $11 billion of which is unfunded. The bulk of that $11 billion would go to construction costs — much higher in the Pacific than on the U.S. homeland — and munitions.

“Our demand signal has been consistent,” George Ka’iliwai, the director of requirements and resources at the command, said in a March interview. “It is what it is because they are our requirements.”

The Pentagon has questioned some of Indo-Pacific Command’s priorities and whether they’re possible to carry out, even with funding. Infrastructure projects, for example, sometimes require negotiations with the host government as well as expensive labor and material costs. Only about a fifth of Indo-Pacific Command’s desired construction projects appear in the FY25 budget request, Ka’iliwai said.

Since its first report, the command has said the missile defense architecture of Guam — a U.S. territory crucial to the military’s Pacific posture — is its top goal. Others, such as infrastructure on Pacific islands or a secure network to communicate with allies, have also appeared each year.

PDI “doesn’t come close to scratching the itch,” the defense source said.

‘Trade-offs’

There are a few paths forward. One of them would see Congress give Indo-Pacific Command new money each year, like the account McCain sought in 2017.

There are lawmakers, such as Hawaii’s Case, who support that. But the appropriations committees don’t, and it’s unlikely that will change in the short term, according to multiple congressional aides.

Another option is in the Pentagon’s control. At the start of the budgeting process, department leaders could reserve money for the command’s priorities and build everything else around it. That would resemble how the deputy defense secretary is funding two signature initiatives: the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, which helps accelerate prototyping; and Replicator, an effort to buy drones faster.

But these programs are loose change compared to what the command says it needs — hundreds of millions of dollars compared to more than $11 billion in unfunded priorities.

The way PDI works now is important, according to another senior defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. The official argued that a different model for the initiative would make it more difficult for the Defense Department to plan and budget.

“The department has the best ability to find the right trade-offs,” the official said.

Points of view

Three years after Davidson testified, his successor stepped into a House hearing room this March.

“The risk is still high, and it is trending in the wrong direction,” Adm. John Aquilino noted in his opening statement, later adding that the Pacific is the most dangerous he’s ever seen it.

Sitting next to him, Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, was more hopeful, citing higher spending and the administration’s “historic momentum” with allies in the region.

The higher spending is easier to see with PDI, which has charted large increases in funding over the last four years. Whether the initiative is working depends on whether you look at the Pacific through the eyes of Ratner or Aquilino. Both agree war isn’t imminent, but they’re split on whether deterrence is getting better or worse.

If it’s eroding, as Davidson argued in 2021, then PDI’s current model may not be enough. If the region is more stable, then the initiative looks better too.

The biggest misconception about PDI, according to the second defense official, is that the Pentagon doesn’t take it seriously.

“This is not a gradual slope of increase,” the official said of Pacific funding. “This is a significant and dramatic increase in investment, and we are more committed than ever.”

The PDI request for this year is $9.9 billion — more than $800 million over last year’s. But up until soon before the Pentagon released its FY25 budget request, it wasn’t, according to the first defense official and a congressional aide.

To show the Pentagon was focused on the threat from China, defense leaders tagged more items under the initiative at the last minute to raise its dollar figure, the first defense source and a congressional aide told Defense News. Among the late entries was the drone program Replicator.

At the recent March hearing, a member of Congress asked Ratner whether the $9.9 billion includes everything the Pentagon needs “for the PDI to be as effective as possible.”

“Congresswoman,” Ratner responded, “the PDI is simply an accounting mechanism.”

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

In Other News

Norway’s Long-Term Defense Plan features sharp increase in spending

A critical feature in the ltdp raises spending and financial benefits across all branches of the norwegian defense forces..

Epirus directed energy to face off against vessels in US Navy testing

U.s. navy leaders have lamented a lack of directed-energy options as houthi rebels in yemen pepper the red sea and gulf of aden with attack drones..

Anduril to supply robotic combat vehicle software to US Army

Rcvs are unmanned systems envisioned to work alongside soldiers, schlepping supplies or surveilling adversaries with sophisticated sensors..

Russian military ‘almost completely reconstituted,’ US official says

The assessment from deputy secretary of state kurt campbell appears to contradict that of the pentagon and u.s. allies..

Budget constraints delay Space Force’s narrowband satellite efforts

The delay will push the launch of the next muos satellite from fiscal 2030 to 2031..

Home — Essay Samples — Science — NASA — NASA’s Budget vs. Military Spending: Is it Justified?

NASA's Budget Vs. Military Spending: is It Justified?

• Categories: NASA

About this sample

Words: 2046 |

11 min read

Published: Aug 30, 2022

Words: 2046 | Pages: 4 | 11 min read

Bibliography

• Anderson, D. (2016). 10 Reasons the US Should Not Cut Military Spending. [online] Listland.com. Available at: https://www.listland.com/10-reasons-the-us-should-not-cut-military-spending/2/ [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Brannen, K. (2008). FORECAST: ARMY S&T INVESTMENT TO INCREASE SLIGHTLY OVER 10 YEARS. Inside the Army,20(44), 5-5. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24826891 [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Brookes, P. (2008). Why the World Still Needs America's Military Might. [online] Heritage.org. Available at: https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/why-the-world-still-needs-americas-military-might [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Goldstein, M. (2007). NASA Funding Slow, Not Steady, after Space Race. Science, 318(5857), 1721-1722. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20051792 [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Jpl.nasa.gov. 8 Real World Science Facts about Saturn’s Moon Enceladus. [online] Available at: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/slideshow/8-real-world-space-facts-about-saturns-moon-enceladus/ [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Jwst.nasa.gov. James Webb Space Telescope FAQ. [online] Available at: https://jwst.nasa.gov/faqLite.html [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Marinho, F., Orwig, J. (2017). Here’s what NASA could accomplish if it had the US military’s $600 billion budget. [online] Businessinsider.com. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/what-nasa-do-with-us-military-budget-2017-7?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Opam, K. (2011). Air Conditioning the Military Costs More Than NASA’s Entire Budget. [online] Gizmodo.com. Available at: https://gizmodo.com/air-conditioning-the-military-costs-more-than-nasas-ent-5813257 [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Siegel, E. (2017). 5 incredible advances science could buy with the government’s $600B military budget. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/11/01/5-incredible-advances-science-could-buy-with-the-governments-600b-military-budget/#3c6d3c3b902f [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Spacex.com. (2017). Making life multiplanetary. [online] Available at: https://www.spacex.com/dragon [Accessed 12 May 2019]
• Ward, A. (2018). China’s military power could match America’s by 2050. [online] Vox.com. Available at: https://www.vox.com/world/2018/11/14/18091800/china-military-power-congress-commission-report-2050 [Accessed 12 May 2019]   

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

• Expert in: Science

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

4 pages / 1845 words

1 pages / 605 words

1 pages / 552 words

2 pages / 865 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on NASA

The sky is not the limit for safety amongst space-faring organizations. As exemplified through the Challenger and Columbia failures, in the early days of NASA the operational requirements of this organization far outweighed [...]

Early in 2017, a new blockbuster movie hit theaters nationwide. Out-grossing high production films such as “Star Trek Beyond,” “X-Men Apocalypse,” and “La La Land,” the movie “Hidden Figures” follows the brilliant minds of three [...]

Dynamics related to the study of forces and torques and their effect on motion. It is the branch of physics (specifically classical mechanics). It is the opposite of kinematics. Kinematics studies the motion of objects without [...]

Sennett asserts that the mythical tale of Zeus punishing humans for stealing fire through Pandora’s casket demonstrates how modern man-made communities often face the chance to harm themselves and also that people try to [...]

The study of exoplanets is a relatively new field of research in astronomical studies. Only until 1995 was the first real exoplanet that orbits around an actual star discovered. Technology has been rapidly growing ever since [...]

Since its conception, space exploration has captured the imaginations of many in a limitless frontier, where ingenuity is unbound and social barriers do not hinder humanity's collective quest for knowledge; however, when [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essays Examples >
• Essay Topics

Essays on Military Spending

8 samples on this topic

Our essay writing service presents to you an open-access database of free Military Spending essay samples. We'd like to underline that the showcased papers were crafted by skilled writers with proper academic backgrounds and cover most various Military Spending essay topics. Remarkably, any Military Spending paper you'd find here could serve as a great source of inspiration, actionable insights, and content structuring practices.

It might so happen that you're too pressed for time and cannot allow yourself to waste another minute browsing Military Spending essays and other samples. In such a case, our service can offer a time-saving and very practical alternative solution: a fully original Military Spending essay example written exclusively for you according to the provided instructions. Get in touch today to know more about efficient assistance opportunities offered by our buy an essay service in Military Spending writing!

Foreign Aid In China – The Effect Of War And Peace: Essay You Might Want To Emulate

Introduction

Truman, Eisenhower, And Kennedy {type) To Use As A Writing Model

Learn to craft research papers on critical juncture/decisions that had a lasting impact on the development of russian policy or institutions with this example, example of essay on how america and the world changed from1865.

America and the world at large have experienced many changes over the 20th century. Major events such as the world wars, the cold war, politics, culture of abundance, and the resulting rebellions have shaped the world history. The experiences from these occurrences have both positive and negative impacts. The events have caused changes such as gains in women rights, increased economic activities, advancements in military technology, increased labor movement, formation of the military alliances, political parties, individual spying, and many other activities have dominated the 20th century calendar.

Sample Research Paper On Government Issues The Affordable Healthcare Act, And The Strengthening Of Our Military

Free war economics essay example.

275 words = 1 page double-spaced

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

cover letter for internal position australia

My Speech Class

Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

66 Military Speech Topics [Persuasive, Informative]

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

I try to cover for you as much persuasive and informative themes as possible related to defense and armed forces, militias, the marine corps and coast guard. This is one of my special speech topic idea pages.

Look on the left for other general and focused examples for an educational spoken essay presentation at school. Twenty interesting and current military speech topics for a good informative on objects, subjects, events, structures and entities can be about:

• Air missile defense strategies in East Europe.
• Small arms and light weapons sales in malls.
• Structure of our armed forces; at sea, on land, in the air.
• Famous battles and wars that form our nation.
• Chain of command in special operations.
• Bases, camps and forts as the defense line.
• Intelligence services: do they cooperate?
• Nuclear weapons stock by country or region.
• Bunker busters; how do they work.
• Patriot missile defense as an example of military engineering.
• Medal of Honor categories and heroes.
• Purple Heart conditions and recipients.
• West Point Academy education curriculum.
• Naval Coast Guard operations on the seas.
• Chief of Staff position and power.
• Megastructures engineered for the army.
• Army marching bands and orchestras and their history.
• Ways to salute in different countries.
• Pentagon building architeture of concentric pentagonal rings and radial corridors.
• Life in a submarine for ten months.
• African Union should increase the number of troops deployed in the Sudanese Darfur province.
• Military actions against regimes with hostile policies is inevitable.
• The effect of war on the economy.
• Closer diplomatic ties with North Korea will mean more control.
• Decommissioning is the only way to negotiate with war lords in Sudan.
• Diplomatic immunity issues in dictatorial systems are based on military power.
• Efforts to bring Nazi war crime suspects to trial will never be successful.
• Every citizen should commit to 2,000 hours of voluntary national service in their lifetime.
• Have more women in military staff functions.
• Immigration control is important to preserve security and culture.
• It’s not cowardly to refuse to fight in a war.
• Kids are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor.
• Military service should be based on conduct, not sexual orientation.
• Mothers must be persuaded not to fight in militairy combat front lines.
• Negotiating with terrorists is justifiable.
• Recruiting marines is a though duty
• Restrictions on weapons trade ought to be more severe.
• Sometimes force and violence are needed to make peace.
• Support initiatives to help child soldiers.
• The military corps – professionals and / or voluntareers.
• The next great world war will be in western Europe again.
• The US-Mexican border fence to tighten homeland security does not work.
• The use of torture is never appropriate.
• There should be a Code of Conduct in the arms trade.
• Unilateral military action is wrong without the consent of the United Nations.
• We must never stop honouring war veterans.

Here are easy to research ideas for writing a speech on women in the military speech topics:

• Women in front-combat lines: ban or not?
• Role of women in World War II; female power behind the screens.
• Famous female intelligence spies, there are more than you think.
• Sexual harassment policies in the military.
• Women on high positions in the army.
• Seagoing positions and responsibilities on combat ships.
• History of the position of women in military service.
• All jobs in the air force should be opened for females.
• Effects on morale, training, and unit workload.
• Protection in ground combat.

These are examples of military speech topics based on interesting persuasive government policy writing topics. Describe pros/cons or take a side in the public debate about these speech ideas on controversial:

• Are smart bombs really that smart?
• Biological and chemical weapons.
• Nuclear proliferation treaties do they bring a peaceful balance?
• Arms trade codes of conduct by the large co-operating governments.
• Regional conflicts. Cover not all of course, but I think you could pick out one or two and compare the similarities and upper-regional consequences in the long term.
• Space security – a myth or already taken in position in secret agreements?
• Use of dirty bombs and the international protests against it.
• GI Bill on caring for veterans.
• Veteran affairs.
• Military budget cuts and spending balance.

41 Psychology Speech Topic Ideas

89 Medical Speech Topic Ideas [Persuasive, Informative, Nursing]

1 thought on “66 Military Speech Topics [Persuasive, Informative]”

How to roll sleeves correctly

Leave a Comment

I accept the Privacy Policy

Reach out to us for sponsorship opportunities

Vivamus integer non suscipit taciti mus etiam at primis tempor sagittis euismod libero facilisi.

© 2024 My Speech Class

Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue Research Paper

Ever since man began living in organized societies that later coalesced into kingdoms and then nation states, the question that has always emerged; is why most of the wealth of a nation collected through taxes finds greater use for military spending rather than for the welfare of the citizens? This essay examines the dynamics of state priorities to provide answers as to why there is a preference towards military spending rather than welfare.

While there are competing concepts of nation states, it is the Realist model of statecraft that dominates the world today. The Hobbessian construct that humans by nature are “apt to invade and destroy each other”(Hobbes 86) and can only be controlled by coercive power serves as a guiding principle for most nations. Hobbes believed that it was necessary to build “strong institutions to save mankind from its own worst instincts”(Peters 4). It is because of the fear of death, that man had agreed to live in societies and be ruled by a king or a state. Thus was born a social contract where the citizens would have some rights and some duties, which the state ordained in return for ensuring safety and security of its citizens. Complementary to this rationale was the rationale that since man is by nature a violent creature, who would engage in struggle if not held back, the nation states that form out of humanity are similarly disposed to violence and that in natural state, all states strive for survival in an anarchic world. Doyle has very aptly put it that “International anarchy precludes the effective escape from the dreary history of war and conflict that are the consequence of competition under anarchy”(Doyle 51). In such a state of anarchy states are always struggling to gain primacy at the cost of the other. In this struggle, a ‘balance of power’ becomes evident when some states gain power which is greater than others but almost equitable in relation to its peers. Such a balance ensures peace and stability. Under such circumstances, there exists a hierarchy of states with the dominant state at the apex, followed by major powers, regional powers, minor powers and then the subjugated. In such a paradigm, the main concern for a state is its survival. To ensure its survival, the state needs overwhelming military power. Concepts of morality, ethics as understood by humanists, therefore take a back seat and are viewed in relative terms when compared to the fundamental national interests of the state(Baylis, Smith and Owens 127). Thus leaders of nation states have to take a differing yardstick on what constitutes ethical behavior irrespective of their personal beliefs to remain in consonance with stated national interests in which national survival is the supreme factor. The priorities therefore revolve around maintenance of external security, external interests first and then internal domestic policies. It is precisely this Realist formulation that has dictated human affairs since ancient times.

Take for example the United States of America. The U.S. was born as a country of immigrant Protestant settlers fleeing the persecution of the Catholic Church in Europe who landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Almost immediately, the settlers had to struggle for their existence, battling harsh terrain, trying conditions and unfriendly Native Americans. By sheer dint of perseverance, ingenuity and adherence of ‘altered states of morality’, the settlers prevailed upon the native American population massacring them by their thousands and banishing them to ‘reserves’ where they continue to languish till to date on the fringes of the American society. African Americans too suffered intense cruelty and exploitation during the slavery period that led to the Civil War, where taxes collected by both Unionists and Confederates went into building huge armies to fight for survival. Both the parties claimed that they were fighting for the welfare of their constituencies. After the Civil War, America embarked upon a phase of isolation articulated in the Monroe Doctrine wherein America declared its intention to stay away from fractious European politics and likewise expected the Europeans to keep clear of the Americas. During this period, America spent monies for improving the welfare of its people. The Great Depression of 1929 spurred the government to further spend national wealth on generating employment. However, ironically, all the New Deal policies of President Roosevelt did not lift America out of doldrums as did the Second World War. The requirement of wartime production of military supplies and logistics to keep afloat its allies was the main reason why America pulled out of the economic slump so rapidly. Post WWII, the threat of Soviet expansionism, the Domino effect of countries toppling under Communist influence finally reaching America, was identified as a prime reason to boost military spending and put into place the costly Containment policy where billions of dollars were spent on military research, equipment, nuclear weapons and fighting proxy wars in far off lands. The American state considered the Soviet phenomenon as an existential threat and hence the preponderance of military spending. The fact that America won the Cold War and defeated the Soviets is taken as a vindication by the American leaders of the need to continue military spending.

In fact, after the Soviet collapse, many American strategists argued that since America was now the sole Superpower, it needed to maintain that position and stop any other power from ever challenging it again. They argued that such a situation would then provide for eternal peace and security for the American people. The 9/11 attacks prompted the invasion of Iraq and billions of dollars spent in bolstering Homeland Security. In this case, the threat of collapse of physical security was deemed to be so great that welfare programs were deliberately put on the back burner in America. Similarly, when Saddam Hussein threatened to (Herod 196) convert Iraq’s oil trade from trading in Dollars to Euros, American strategists were alarmed about the possible domino effect of other gulf countries following suit and ending America’s domination of the global petroleum markets. Such a development threatened American national interests, and in the minds of its leaders, its survival as the sole superpower and hence the doctored ‘dossier’ on Iraq possessing or acquiring nuclear weapons was circulated by the American administration to legitimize the invasion of Iraq (Shulman 105). The costs in Iraq have been humungous. According to Baker III & Hamilton, “estimates run as high as $ 2 trillion for the final cost of the US involvement in Iraq”(10). Despite a Democratic administration now in power, and a ‘drawdown’ in Iraq, American involvement in Afghanistan is increasing. So whether it is two trillion dollars or three trillion as per Joseph Stiglitz (Stiglitz and Bilmes), the logic that America needs to fight these wars to safeguard its physical security ensures that monies collected from taxes will continue to be used for military spending rather than welfare. Even during the current economic downturn in America, the defense budget did not see any rationalization though many domestic policies were changed. Compare the three trillion on just one war being spent to the present closely contested 1.2 Trillion dollar health care reforms (TIME 7) fought through the House of Representatives by the Obama administration. It clearly depicts where the priority lie. Also, it is always much easier to sell a defense budget to the people than a welfare bill. No opposition party would like to be labeled as ‘anti-national’ for opposing military expenditure and be accused of not spending enough money to support the men and women fighting and giving up their lives for America’s honor. Thus, a President can almost always get away with an extraordinary amount of money for defense expenditure with minimal debate in the Congress but the same cannot be said about welfare measures. The extant case of the health care bill, where it was passed by a narrow margin, of 220-215 in the US House of Representatives shows how differing domestic perceptions and partisan politics can stymie welfare measures.

But what of the welfare oriented European states that follow inspired Liberalism as a state policy? The Realists scoff at the Liberalist model stating that the Liberalists do not count in the global ‘pecking order’ and in any case, their physical security is being guaranteed by the overwhelming presence of U.S armed forces that allows them the luxury of being able to spend their tax money on welfare. According to the Realists, the Liberalists are hypocrites, who while proclaiming their liberal values yet hold on to the NATO, a Cold War construct and yet send troops to Afghanistan to protect their national interests. Thus, whether nation states adopt a Realist or a Liberalist policy, the concept of ‘national survival’ will continue to reign supreme and will always take a lion’s share of tax monies collected.

In conclusion, it can be emphasized that the belief in the anarchic state of the world system drives nation states to take measures to ensure their survival. The fear of physical elimination by another state, entity or a non state actor galvanizes nations to spend a substantial amount of money collected through taxes on the military rather than welfare. While spending on welfare measures can always be held hostage to partisan domestic policies, spending on military issues attracts near unanimity as no party would like to be projected as ‘anti-national’. Considering the uncertain state of international security situation, the tendency for nations to spend more on the military is not likely to change for the foreseeable future except in some areas of the world where the physical security of those nations is being guaranteed by a powerful ally.

Works Cited

Baker III, James and Lee Hamilton. “The Iraq Study Group Report.” 2009. Web.

Baylis, John, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens. The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Doyle, Michael W. Ways of War and Peace: Realism, Liberalism and Socialism. NY: WW Norton and Coy, 1997.

Herod, Andrew. Geographies of Globalization. NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. NY: Forgotten Books, 1651.

Peters, B. Guy. Institutional Theory in Politcal Science: The ‘New’ Institutionalism. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005.

Shulman, Seth. Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.

Stiglitz, Joseph and Linda J Bilmes. The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2008.

TIME. “House Passes Sweeping Health Care Bill.” 8 November 2009. TIME.com. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, May 18). Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tax-money-usage-on-military-spending-issue/

"Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue." IvyPanda , 18 May 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/tax-money-usage-on-military-spending-issue/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue'. 18 May.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue." May 18, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tax-money-usage-on-military-spending-issue/.

1. IvyPanda . "Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue." May 18, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tax-money-usage-on-military-spending-issue/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue." May 18, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tax-money-usage-on-military-spending-issue/.

• Culture and Anarchy by Mathew Arnold
• Why Anarchy Cannot be Transcended
• Anarchy, Black Nationalism and Feminism
• "Slavery Isn't the Issue" by Juan Williams Review
• Compensation and Retirement Planning Case Analysis
• Should we be realist or non-realist towards religious claims
• International Relations: Alliances and Anarchy
• Tax efficient financial planning
• Robert Nozick’s “Anarchy, State and Utopia”
• Constructivist Critique of Realist Theories
• Disadvantages of Being Short
• Consumerism: Does the Community Need a Lot of Goods on Supermarket Shelves?
• Homelessness as a Cause of Concern Around the World
• Youth Prostitution in America
• Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence: Comprehensive Discussion

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

50 Persuasive Essay Topics to Help You Ace Your Next Assignment

• 5-minute read
• 19th January 2023

Welcome to your ultimate guide to persuasive essay topics! 

In this post, we’ll provide a list of 50 persuasive essay topics to help you get started on your next assignment. 

We’ll also include some tips for writing a persuasive essay to help you craft a strong and effective argument. Whether you’re a student or a professional writer, these persuasive essay topics are sure to inspire and challenge you.

What Is a Persuasive Essay?

Persuasive essays are a type of argumentative essay that encourage the reader to accept a particular point of view or take a specific action.

They typically open with a question, followed by a series of arguments intended to persuade the reader to take the same side as the author.

In a persuasive essay, the author will usually appeal to the readers’ emotions in order to prove that their opinion is the correct one. But this doesn’t mean that persuasive essays ignore evidence , facts, and figures; an effective persuasive essay makes use of a combination of logical argument and emotive language to sway the audience.

A persuasive essay can cover just about anything from pop culture to politics. With that in mind, we’ve put together this list of 50 persuasive essay topics to inspire your next assignment!

Top 50 Persuasive Essay Topics

• Should the government censor the internet?
• Should the government regulate the sale of violent video games?
• Should self-driving cars be banned?
• Is facial recognition software unethical?
• Should mental health apps collect users’ personal data?
• Should children under 13 have cell phones?
• Should internet access be treated as a human right?
• Should all paperwork be digitized?

Science and the Environment

• Should the use of plastic bags be banned?
• Should genetically modified organisms be labeled?
• Should we clone human beings?
• Should animal testing be allowed?
• Should the government fund space exploration?
• Should the government regulate the use of pesticides in farming?
• Should the government regulate the use of antibiotics in livestock?
• Should the government fine people who drive gas-powered vehicles?
• Should climate change be declared a national emergency?

Crime and Politics

• Should the death penalty be abolished?
• Should all American citizens have to serve a year of community service?
• Should the US voting age be lowered to 16?
• Should the government adopt a tougher immigration policy?
• Should the government cut its military spending?
• Should the government introduce a national living wage?
• Should politicians be banned from social media?
• Should the electoral college be abolished?

Health and Fitness

• Should the government provide universal healthcare?
• Should the government ban the use of certain chemicals in cosmetics?
• Should parents be allowed to choose the gender of their unborn child?
• Should physical exercise be mandatory at work?
• Should employees have to disclose health conditions to their employers?
• Should fast food commercials be banned?
• Should herbal medicines be better regulated?
• Should regular mental health checkups be mandatory?
• Should schools offer fast food options like McDonald’s or Taco Bell?
• Should students be required to wear uniforms?
• Should the government provide free college education?
• Should schools offer comprehensive sex education?
• Are high school students given too much homework?
• Should humanities and arts subjects receive more funding?
• Should military recruiters be allowed on school grounds?
• Is the school day too long?
• Should every US citizen be required to learn another language?

Lifestyle and Culture

Find this useful.

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

• Should the drinking age be lowered or raised?
• Should the use of tobacco be banned?
• Should marijuana be legalized?
• Should all museums and art galleries be free?
• Should kids be encouraged to read more?
• Should public spaces provide unisex bathrooms?
• Is pet ownership a human right?
• Should extreme sports be banned?

Tips for Writing a Persuasive Essay

Once you’ve chosen your topic, it’s time to start writing your persuasive essay. Here are our tips:

Choose a Side

When you’ve picked the question you’re going to address in your essay, you also need to choose one side – or answer – that you’re going to write in favor of.

It helps if you’re passionate about the topic, as this will enable you to write from an emotional perspective.

Do Your Research

In order to write persuasively , you need to understand the topic you’re writing about. 

Make sure you know the details of your subject matter, and can provide facts and figures to back up your appeal to your readers’ emotions.

You should also read up about different points of view on the topic, so that you can bring them up in the form of counterarguments and rebuttals .

Keep Your Audience in Mind

When you’re writing your essay, think about who it is you’re trying to persuade. The way you speak to a student, for example, will be different to how you address a parent.

Consider what your potential audience will value, and how you can reach them on an emotional level. 

Outline Your Essay

Now you’ve got all the information you need, it’s time to plan and write your essay.

You should break it down into the follow sections:

• An introduction, which sets up the question you’re going to answer and what side of the argument you are aiming to persuade the reader of.
• The body of the essay, with a paragraph for each of the points you want to make.
• A conclusion, where you summarize your points and main arguments.

Get It Proofread

As with any essay, your finished persuasive essay will need proofreading to make sure it’s the best it can be.

Our academic proofreading team here at Proofed can help with that. You can even get your first 500 words proofread for free !

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

3-minute read

What Is a Content Editor?

Are you interested in learning more about the role of a content editor and the...

4-minute read

The Benefits of Using an Online Proofreading Service

Proofreading is important to ensure your writing is clear and concise for your readers. Whether...

2-minute read

6 Online AI Presentation Maker Tools

Creating presentations can be time-consuming and frustrating. Trying to construct a visually appealing and informative...

What Is Market Research?

No matter your industry, conducting market research helps you keep up to date with shifting...

8 Press Release Distribution Services for Your Business

In a world where you need to stand out, press releases are key to being...

How to Get a Patent

In the United States, the US Patent and Trademarks Office issues patents. In the United...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.