They exist !
Some countries do not need armies !
See the list of countries without armies
Non-militarization
Demilitarisation is a process of reducing or completely suppressing an army or a
military apparatus.
Non-militarization is the permanent state of a society living without an army.
To define non-militarization, we use various criteria :
- The first of them is the country's constitution. Some countries
clearly state in their constitution that they do not have an army (Panama), or
a permanent army (Costa-Rica), or no army in times of peace (Liechtenstein), or
that the only armed force is the police (Liechtenstein, Kiribati). Other
countries clearly organize the police forces, while saying nothing (on purpose one
could say) of the army.
- The second criterion to define a country without an army is the institutions. We can distinguish between
police, customs and coast guard, paramilitary forces (intelligence, riot
squads) and the army itself. The civil role of these forces, the mission
assigned to them, the types of equipment and any direct link between
administration and public service are usually sufficient to distinguish the
civil forces from a regular army. Having no army is not yet a guarantee that
forces will act non-violently and preventively, or that they will help creating
a culture of peace to transform conflict, it is
though a strong incentive.
- A third criterion, based on the
facts, is necessary to control the accuracy of the two previous ones. To this
end we use all the public information available to determine what type of
weapons or permanent men on duty these countries do have.
Statistical information in small countries is still rare. Statistics
with the numbers of police officers and soldiers, compared to the numbers of
the full population in a given country do not exist yet. Military equipment and
budgets are not always public. Therefore our definitions of a "country
without an army", or a "non-militarised zone" remain general
ones, subject to error and change. It is still sufficient to describe a general
trend and to define a state of mind, which is very often reflected by local
people saying: " we having no standing army."
There are countries without armies, and there are territories without armies
as well.
Countries without armies are all democratic countries, with the
exception of the Holy See (
The list of the countries without armies :
The information provided here is very general.
For historical, legal, strategic, economic and all other types of analysis for
each of these countries please read our report or contact our office !
We are looking for volunteers to do the web pages for most countries listed below and to keep us updated
on what goes on in every one of them. Would you care to do this, we will help
you the best we can ! Please let us know.
As well if you know someone living in one of
these countries, that might be interested in our work and our research, please
put us in contact, that we may therefore strengthen our network.
Grenada
Iceland
Haiti
Kiribati
Liechtenstein
Maldivias
Nauru
Niue
Palau
Panama
San Marino
Solomon Islands New developments in the
Salomon Islands
List of Territories without armies
(Not complete)
Aland islands
(
Antarctic (Demilitarised
by treaty in 1959)
The Moon and all Celestial Bodies (Treaty of 1967)
The ocean bed
The Spitzbergen
Some
communities in
and are
"demilitarised". Colombia Peace zones
Please order our first report on Non-militarization and countries without armies : It is a basic study of non-militarization and countries without armies. It contains a general introduction to various aspects of non-militarization and a brief description of every one of the 27 countries without armies.
It can be ordered from APRED
for the price of 10.- CHF, 8$ US or 7 Euros, plus shipping. E-Mail
The paper version is in
Franc, but an English version is available in word format for the same prices.
Please feel welcome to ask for it at E-Mail
