Militarism is the idea that a state and its government should invest in, maintain and deploy a strong military capability. In the June 2014 issue of American Public Health, many leading academics and scientists come together to identify this ideology as a threat to public health.
As a solution to social problems, they say the pre-eminence of militaristic ethics and methods in governance makes war–and the drive to war–increasingly normal. This, in turn, exacerbates a public health crisis, because militarism encourages a world where wars and state violence are frequent.
Wars, whether between states or state-driven against its citizens, of course have greatest impact on innocent civilians. In statistical terms, ten civilians die in war for every soldier killed. Other consequences include civilian displacement, insecurity, social division, diminished living conditions, psychosocial and physical consequences, and extreme levels of stress.
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