Assessing European Military Capabilities

Since the mid-1990s, most European states have cut substantially both their militaries and the budgets that support them. More than half of NATO’s member states suspended compulsory military service in favor of all-volunteer forces, and the others generally reduced the length of service for conscripts and placed new emphasis on volunteers. Conventional wisdom holds that smaller, professional forces will be better suited to high-technology operations, and more deployable for operations of any kind. Yet sheer numbers of troops may matter more than technology for peace-keeping in failed states, for stability and counter-insurgency operations, and for territorial defense operations.

The shift from a conscript force to one based fully on volunteers can be rocky. On the other hand, military recruiters in countries where the economies are hard-hit are already finding their jobs easier than in the past, because young people without jobs are turning to the steady pay and training opportunities their armed forces offer.

The future capacity of European militaries to deliver useful capability in support of global engagement will depend on these and other budgetary and organizational realities. This project explores the progress and prospects for ongoing military reforms in European countries, NATO, and the European Union and examines their implications for U.S. global engagement.