The importance of national mobilization on the shoulders of giants

Abstract

The 21st century, with all its uncertainties and the rapidity of ongoing transformations, concepts such as asymmetric warfare, new threats, terrorism and others populate most defense studies. In this sense, aspects considered more conventional as the mobilization of a nation of its material and human resources to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty over its natural resources is sometimes treated as mere rhetoric. The large amount of intertwined interests between the various actors of the international system, which together with the processes of integration and cooperation through political and economic arrangements, induce an uncertain future where the emergence of conflicts of varying nature and intensity is a reality. By resorting to Isaac Newton's famous phrase: "If I saw further it was by standing on the shoulders of giants" is intended to carry this assertion to the theme of National Mobilization. To this end, the author drew on the work of war scholars, military men, theorists, political scientists, and economists, giants in their fields who directly or indirectly addressed the importance of national mobilization. The National Mobilization, an institute present in the Brazilian Magna Carta of 1988 and LC 11.631 / 2007, is a set of activities planned, oriented and undertaken by the State, complementing the National Logistics, to enable the Country to carry out strategic actions in the field of Defense. National, in the face of foreign aggression. Thus, it is up to the National Mobilization System - SINAMOB, composed of various organs and ministries and having the Ministry of Defense as its central body, acting in an orderly and integrated manner in the planning and execution of national mobilization and demobilization. Although the term national mobilization emerged in a consensual way for states only in the second half of the nineteenth century, at the time of the Franco-Prussian war, the issue of the preparation of armies dates back centuries before Christ. Sun Tzu already contemplated the importance of mobilization as an instrument of deterrence. Later, Nicolau Machiavelli defended the need for the existence of armies of his own for each nation, including teachings regarding the demobilization of military personnel. Clausewitz and his absolute war ties politics to war where the political objective as the initial cause of war will determine both the purpose of military force and the effort to be made involving all the resources of the nation. General Giap shows us the impressive mobilization of human and psychosocial resources carried out during the Vietnam liberation war, plus the mobilization of material provided by the prized warriors. On the importance of the indirect deterrence strategy, based on the preparation and existence and credible military capabilities of each state, the argument rests on the works of Liddell Hart, André Beaufre, Charles Fuller, and Raymond Aron. In the economic field, Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton and Friedrich List presented important economic fundamentals for the defense of the nation that has current applicability to the theme national mobilization. Thus, this article will address the main ideas of great authors cited regarding the defense of a nation, with emphasis on preparation in personnel and material for war and its importance as a deterrent in the grand strategy of each state. Such discussion becomes even more pertinent on the eve of the launch of the National Defense White Paper, an opportunity that, due to the singular importance and transversality of the theme, will contribute inseparably to the discussions and dissemination of national defense in Brazil.