Saying no to military service – obligation, killing and inequality as experienced problems in conscription-based military in Finland

Abstract

While studying citizen-soldiers, their dual identity as a soldier and a civilian have been highlighted. A citizen-soldier’s role is linked to citizenship and its obligation. The dual identity or critical voices of conscription or reserve forces have neither been recognized in research nor been debated publicly in Finland. The aim of this article is to analyse the reasons why some conscripts raise critical voices concerning their relationship with conscription and their role as reservists. The study is based on the interviews of 38 non-military service men and 33 men who resigned from the reserve in 2017. The data was analysed using content analysis. According to the results, the main problems with regard to conscription and armed defence, among the conscripts, relate to inequality of the conscription system, obligation to serve and lack of discretion. For individual conscripts as citizen-soldiers, the problem of killing has special weight when they reflect upon their own role in the possible act of war. Conscripts and their expertise could be used more extensively in a wider range of security-related issues than in armed defence alone.

Neither a Conscript Army nor an All-Volunteer Force: Emerging recruiting models

“…The practices and arrangements of today's conscription system continue to resonate with these themes albeit in somewhat changed forms (Rosman, 2020). Moreover, in ways similar to the Nordic and Baltic countries (Jarvenpaa, 2016;Kosonen et. al., 2019;Poutvaara and Wagener, 2011) there is broad public understanding that efforts must be made to reach as high a percentage as possible of a given cohort for mandatory conscription to be seen as fair and universal.…”

“…given cohort are actually drafted (given the present HR needs of the respective militaries) (Jarvenpaa, 2016). Moreover, all of these countries have some form of civilian national service equivalent to the military one (Kosonen et. al., 2019).…”

Neither a Conscript Army nor an All-Volunteer Force: Emerging Recruiting Models

“…Moreover, in ways similar to the Nordic and Baltic countries (Jarvenpaa, 2016;Kosonen et. al., 2019;Poutvaara and Wagener, 2011) there is broad public understanding that efforts must be made to reach as high a percentage as possible of a given cohort for mandatory conscription to be seen as fair and universal.…”

“…According to the Nordic countries that maintain mandatory military service are characterized as having selective conscription due to the fact that while all men (and in Norway also women) of an age are eligible for conscription, only around 10 per cent of a given cohort are actually drafted (given the present HR needs of the respective militaries) (Jarvenpaa, 2016). Moreover, all of these countries have some form of civilian national service equivalent to the military one (Kosonen et. al., 2019).…”

“The security environment has always been complex!”: the views of Finnish military officers on complexity

“…Another feature that has a direct impact on security thinking is the fact that Finland's military defense is still based on conscription and a large body of reservists (see Kosonen et al 2019). Military conscription has a relatively high level of acceptance and even today around 65% of men in the required age group complete military service.…”