Conscription and Retention

A few countries, such as Finland, Estonia, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway, have retained conscription even after the Cold War, and countries such as Sweden and Lithuania have reintroduced conscription after a number of years of voluntary defense. One difference between compulsory military systems is that conscription does not look the same. Norway and Sweden have a gender-neutral duty that affects just few young women and men of the current cohort, Finland is obliged about 70% of all men, and women apply voluntarily, etc. Therefore, when talking about countries with conscription, is rarely referred to conscription as it was in the 70s and 80s where almost all male from 18 to 20 years were called in. In addition, conscription is once again seen as a guarantor for the supply of personnel to the armed forces. The critical recruiting problems in all volunteer forces and the turnaround in Europe security situation, from international efforts to national defense, means that the topic of conscription has received a renewed focus in recent years.

The purpose of the session is to describe the different conscription systems in Europe and compare how conscription is used to provide personnel for defense forces in European countries. In addition, the session aims to examine e.g. attitudes among conscripts, their attitude to conscription, willingness to defend the country.