Who Pays, Who Fights, Who Stays? the Social Conditions of Military Readiness

Recent geopolitical developments — including renewed great-power competition, regional conflicts, and growing concerns about national and societal security — have led many governments to increase defense spending. These developments raise sociological questions about how increased military expenditure is justified and contested, how citizens evaluate it, and what it demands of the people and organizations expected to turn resources into military readiness.

Military sociology highlights that defense spending is not merely a technical response to security threats. It reflects societal values, political priorities, perceptions of legitimacy, and struggles over the allocation of public resources. In democracies, it also depends on public support. Yet funding alone does not create capability: this also requires citizens willing to defend their country and personnel who are recruited, retained, educated, and equipped effectively.

The papers in this session examine these social foundations of military build-up from comparative perspectives, drawing on cases from East Asia and Europe. They address how political actors legitimise or contest military burdens, how public preferences and the willingness to resist are shaped by international comparisons and allied support, and how commitment, training, and technology shape the capacity of military organizations to turn resources into operational capability. Together, they show how defense expenditures both reflect and reshape relations between military institutions, political authorities, and citizens.