Dupla cena vojne bezbednosti
Double price of military security

Summary/Abstract: We keep hearing that the army costs a lot. The only concrete fact substantiating such complaints is the GDP percentage appropriated for military purposes. However, it would be entirely justified to ask whether this spells the total “price” of military security in the states of the Western Balkans (Balkans, hereinafter). In the past few years budgetary expenditures were clearly insufficient to finance new security needs of the states in the region, such as army professionalization and downsizing. The impoverished states are still less capable of paying to “erase the traces” of their previous security policies. Namely, during the 1990s they invested billions of dollars into the purchase of already obsolete ordnance the destruction of which they are financing today. The citizens of the region are thus paying a “double price” of security additionally disguised by the fact that funds are drawn from the budget as well as out of it. In addition, the inflow of foreign donations for this purpose is increasing.

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