El fin de la conscripción en Europa

Un escenario de opciones singulares

Abstract

The latest changes that have occurred in Europe regarding conscription are analysed starting
from the observation of a long and extensive process of decline of mass armies. Ten indicators of
that crisis are presented and analysed to reach the conclusion that civil society, referred to here
as democratic reason, has exerted a much greater influence than is usually acknowledged in the
recent decision of several European governments to abolish this duty. In the majority of
the cases studied, even despite the fact that governments have been able to establish norms for
this change according to their strategic priorities, the end of conscription is, in fact, a delayed
consequence of the mobilisation of such democratic reason. In others, such as the case of Italy
and, more particularly, Spain, this mobilisation has forced a hasty and problematical change of
government plans in this respect. In short, the continuity of this obligatory service in some of
the countries around us makes it possible to understand the end of conscription as an optional
decision and not a compulsory consequence of the choice or consolidation of the model to be
used in the armed forces.