Re: What happened to the "Peace Dividend", was World Health System

Rick:

Regarding the Peace Dividend:

 - Global Military Expenditure has decreased 
from almost US$1,000b/an in 1987 to about US$767b/an in 1994 (1991 prices) 
[so we are possibly looking for about US$200b/an Peace Dividend].
GLOBAL FUTURES BULLETIN  #2
---December 15, 1995---

Another estimate:
Between 1989-94, global spending on the military 
fell 23% (US$1.04 trillion - $800 billion).
GLOBAL FUTURES BULLETIN  #4
---January 15, 1996---

Between 1989-94, global spending on peace and disarmament rose 
640% (US$2.5 - $16.0 billion) [a drop in the dividend bucket].
Of the US$16b for global peace, $12b was spent on short-term 
measures such as mine clearing, reconstruction and dismantling 
weapons systems, while only $4b was spent on peacekeeping and 
conflict resolution measures.
GLOBAL FUTURES BULLETIN  #4
---January 15, 1996---

Global military spending has declined from a peak in 1989 of US$854b 
($1994) to US$700b in 1994.
GLOBAL FUTURES BULLETIN  #36
---15 May, 1997---                                                    ISSN
1328-5157


Global arms trade expanded by 8% in real terms in 1996 to US$39.9b.
The global conventional arms trade peaked in 1987 at US$60b ($'87).
GLOBAL FUTURES BULLETIN  #47
---01 Nov, 1997---                                                    ISSN
1328-5157


Bill Clinton has announced he is increasing US military spending by 
as much as 5%. 
The US military budget is US$270b/an  or ~38% of world military 
expenditure.  An increase of 5%, or US$13.5b/an would mean an 
increase of 2% in global military expenditure.
GLOBAL FUTURES BULLETIN  #70/#71
---01 Nov, 1998---                                                    ISSN
1328-5157



How could we tell where it has gone to ?  If we suggest (hypothetically)  
that NATO and FSU governments have been:

$+
- cutting back on social welfare expenditure (schools and other social
programs), 
- reducing military expenditure
- reducing Overseas Development Assitance
- selling off government assets

$ -
- retiring foreign debt
- reducing income taxes
- increasing operational expenditure on health services
- increasing government operational expenditure

one can imagine it might have gone to any of the above four areas, 
noting that in the case of the FSU, it disappeared in a major economic 
contraction.

Geoff Holland.

At 12:14 PM 06/22/2000 +0200, you wrote:
>  To all of those world-systems analyst out there:  What happened to the
>"peace dividend"?
>
>It was suppose to be that, after the cold war, all the millions of dollars
>annually devoted to the arms race and defence would be used to make the
>world a better place (the cost of one tank is the same as the cost of
>building a 100 schools in Africa etc. ).  I don't think this happened?
>
>I am suspecting that all the money simply went to technology R&D thereby
>increasing the technology divide and in-fact starting a new kind of race
>between nations.  The race for nano/bio technologies.
>
>Has anyone out there tried to track the "peace dividend"?
>
>
>Rick
>
>