Maquiavel and the importance of the national military power

Abstract

This work brings into consideration the teachings of Machiavelli regarding the consolidation of Nation-States. Under the hypothesis that the survival of the State would be attached to its capacity to provide its own defense by its own means, Machiavelli advocates that the creation of national armies formed by conscripts and promptly rejected the deployment of mercenaries, as well as rejected an army relying upon the aid from other States in the case of crisis or war, which were very common during his time. Nowadays, citizen armies became a reality, however the fast evolution of science, technology and innovation, as well as their consequences to the military expression of the national power, suggests that the existence of such armies no longer assure to any State the capacity to fully defend itself by its own means. This is true, particularly, for countries in which the processes of industrialization came late and that do not fully possess the knowledge required to develop critical and sensitive technologies, or those nations that operate with modest defense industry and, due to that, are heavily dependent upon other countries in regard to essential weaponry, weapon systems or other equipment’s. Aware of the importance of such aspects for the Military Power, we present in this work the characteristics of the defense market, as well as some of the difficulties faced by countries under late industrialization. Moreover, we introduce proposals for the development of a national core for defense industry, such as the exploration of dual technologies and process optimization for the purchase of military systems and weaponry. The ideas explored within this essay should be seen as a warning to anyone tasked to formulate public policies that defend the reduction of personnel and financial resources directed to the development of armed forces and its national defense industrial core.