Us military budget full#

The alliance was set up in 2017 by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, the UK biomedical charity Wellcome and the World Economic Forum after the 2014–16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. For example, the European Commission, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom are among those contributing funding to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which works to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. Amid rising nationalism, alliances are building to distribute vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. UN secretary-general António Guterres sees “an enormous movement of solidarity” around the world in facing down the pandemic. Reset Sustainable Development Goals for a pandemic worldĬhange is possible. The might of the military does not make the world more peaceful. Weapons don’t get at the root causes of instability - poor governance, lack of food, few jobs, poor education provision and threats to safety. More than 96 of the world’s countries recorded a violent demonstration in 2019 as citizens protested against racial injustice, police brutality, corruption and economic decline 4. In the past decade, the number of riots and anti-government demonstrations has more than doubled globally 4. The drop in peace levels is despite an increase in military spending globally, to a record US$1.9 trillion in 2019 5.Ĭross-border invasions and civil wars are in decline, but political instability and unrest is rising across many regions, including North and South America, Africa and Asia. The index measures 23 indicators - including military expenditure and ease of access to small weapons - in 163 independent states and territories, ranking them according to their level of peacefulness. According to the Global Peace Index 4, levels of peace have fallen by 2.5% since 2008. The old world order, in which governments build arsenals to protect the state, is clearly not delivering what people need. Now, the sheer scale of the COVID-19 pandemic against a backdrop of rising violence - both of which have long been predicted - makes the case for action more urgent. Spending security budgets on pandemic preparedness was mooted after the outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Zika virus, for example 3.

Us military budget full#

That means ensuring people can live to their full potential - economically fulfilled, politically enfranchised, in healthy environments and free from the fear of violence and pressing mortal threats such as climate change or pandemics. Despite threats to human existence from climate change, biodiversity loss and a pandemic that’s devastating economies and paralysing societies, countries still spend recklessly on destructive weapons for wars they will never fight.Īs an academic who advises the United Nations on arms control and the military uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, I have long argued that nations should prioritize ‘human security for the common good’ over military spending 1, 2.