Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/301

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A/42/427
English
Page 301


Weapons (1975); and the Oonvention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (1978).

13/ The Eisenhower quote is taken from his final valedictory address (Speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors Washington. DC, April. 19) which also includes the more famous reference to the 'military-industrial complex'

14/ Estimates from R.L. Sivard, World Military and Social Expenditures (Washington. DC: World Priorities. Inc. 1986). More details in M. Brzoska et el., 'World Military Expenditure and Arms Production', SIPR Yearbook, op. cit. The figure of total military spending, is necessarily approximate because of the enormous problems of aggregating spending in different – and often non-convertible – currencies and from countries with different statistical conventions. According to Sivard, total military spending in 1983 was $728 billion. On the basis of trends and preliminary data, a figure of at least $900 billion and possibly $1,000 billion in current prices and exchange rates seems appropriate for 1986.

15/ Sivard, 1986 edition, op. cit., SIPRI Yearbook, op. cit.

16/ Sivard, 1986 edition. op. cit.; SIPRI Yearbook. op. cit.

17/ M. Ackland-Hood, 'Military Research and Development Expenditure', SIPRI Yearbook, op. cit.

18/ According to calculations based on OECD Development Assistance Committee data, which are not universally accepted, together with Sivard, total non-military development aid measured in net concessional flows from industrial to developing countries represents roughly 5 per cent of the amount spent by all industrial countries on armaments. For the United States, foreign aid accounts for per cent of armaments spending, and for the USSR, 1.5 per cent. In Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, by contrast, the proportion is close to 30 per cent, and it is over 10 per cent for Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, FRG, and Switzerland.

19/ According to L.R. Browr et el., in State of the World 1986 (London: W.W. Norton, 1986), China in 1972 spent l per cent of its gross national product (GNP) on military purposes, one of the highest levels in the world. Since 1970 (except for 1979), the government has systematically reduced this until by 1985 it amounted to only 7.5 per cent in mid 1985 the government announced it would cut the armed forces to 3.2 million, a drop of 2 per cent. In Argentina, by 1984 new President Raul Alfonsin had cut arms outlays to half their peak level of 1980 (nearly 4 per cent of GNP) by reordering priorities and shifting resources to social programmes. Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez, on taking office in mid-1985, announced he would reduce military outlays, which then totalled 5 per cent of GNP, or one-quarter of the federal budget. First he cancelled half the order for 26 French Mirage fighter planes.

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