The Conscription Comeback and the Social Contract

In this week’s Europe Dispatch, Minna Ålander looks at the question of obligatory military service and what the existing conscription systems – and their social acceptability – look like in the Nordic

Hello Everyone,

The question of (re)introducing conscription is currently a hot topic in Europe. While I come from a country with an unbroken tradition of obligatory military service for male citizens (voluntary for women), I tend to be rather sceptical about the idea that conscription would solve the problem of growing European troop numbers. In some ca…