Uniforce: A Fully Integrated and Permanent International Military Force in a World Without WarTo create a permanent international army under the auspices of the United Nations, along the lines of the peacekeepers, has been suggested many times in history, and the pros and cons have been hotly debated by political theorists. Smaller continental military unions exist, such as the African Union's forces, or have been proposed, such as Mr Lamers suggestion that France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Austria build a "common core" of a European army. A French military head, however, says that military integration without political integration will not work1. But the sometimes-success of the African Union's troops proves him wrong in principal. NATO is a hardly a political union, yet its forces have acted effectively in many parts of the globe. Continental military forces can be effective, and we will see that a worldwide force has not only the potential to be more effective than the UN's Blue Helmets, but is necessary for world peace.
Einstein's unique contribution to this discussion is his deliberation that an international military force cannot be used unilaterally, because of its nature. To divide such a force for nationalistic purposes cannot work, the same as you cannot wield a portion of a weapon. Sam Harris explains that in cases of intervention for humanitarian ends such as in Iraq, an authorized international force is essential. “We should, I think, look upon modern despotisms as hostage crises. Kim Jong II has thirty million hostages. Saddam Hussein had twenty-five million. The clerics in Iran have seventy million more. It does not matter that many hostages have been so brainwashed that they will fight their would-be liberators to the death. They are held prisoner twice over - by tyranny and by their own ignorance. The developed world must, somehow, come to their rescue. Jonathan Glover seems right to suggest that we need "something along the lines of a strong and properly funded permanent UN force, together with clear criteria for intervention and an international court to authorize it." We can say it more simply: we need a world government. How else will a war between the United States and China ever become as unlikely as a war between Texas and Vermont?” After fifty years of the European Union, war between ancient rivals such as France and the UK does seem "as unlikely as a war between Texas as Vermont", and this is because the political and economic identities of European states has been brought closer together by the union. A European-wide military force would make sense, and, as Harris points out, an international one would make even more sense in preventing war between individual nations. If the Blue Helmets were permanent with a mandate to intervene against any illegal war, rapidly, such wars would not be practically possible and would end quicker. But more than this, perhaps Harris' point is that if any country develops religious beliefs that are more likely to lead it into war, then, such a country would be contained by the international will of the rest of the world with more clarity than at present. “We are living in a world of confrontations and conflicts rather than of war and peace”
Gen. Sir Rupert Smith4 This is now more likely to work than in the past. We have passed into an era where there are few wars and many conflicts. “There is an acceptance in many circles that we now conduct operations rather than wars. [...] We live in a condition of continuous confrontation and conflict [and] even if military action is successful the confrontation will remain. [...] It is no longer practical for the politicians and diplomats to expect the military to solve the problem by force, nor is it practical for the military to plan and execute a purely military campaign, or in many cases take tactical action, without placing it within the political context, with both politicians and the military adjusting context and plan accordingly throughout the operation as the situation evolves. There is no longer industrial war: the enemies are no longer the Third Reich or Japan, who posed absolute and clear threats in recognizable groupings.” Large national armies can no longer satisfy the needs of modern conflicts. Forces need to be multinational in order to win the political game that comes with continuous confrontation with non-governmental forces. Displays of international solidarity can prevent the feeding of the enemies psychological warfare machines, whereas shows of strength by individual countries is often the fuel. For decades, most national armies have done very little but cause the trouble that international forces have been assembled to quell. History, like commerce, has moved beyond the idea of national army protecting national interests. Now, an international army must protect international interests and protectionist borders have become a hindrance to the free development of peace.
The 'Uni' of Uniforce implies universality, unitedness and uniformity, and 'force' correctly differentiates it from the United Nations peacekeepers - who would no doubt remain in existence (along with the distinctive blue helmets) as an important part of Uniforce. Peace-keeping missions would see the blue helmet regiments deployed, where interventionist wars against despots would wear a green, military, helmet. National Forces for Self-Defence Only, and Their Global InefficiencyOnce an international military force is established, there will be less need overall for the massive offensive armies retained by today's powers. Much of the surplus can be changed into a defensive, mostly part-time home guard. A study for the European Parliament in 2006 highlighted the fact that NATO Europe maintains several different models of tank and 11 types of frigate (whereas American only maintains one type of each), and sixteen types of armoured vehicle against 3 in America5. All these varieties require factories, contracts, research costs, warehouses, maintenance schedules and supply chains. If ten countries contribute to the costs of a single model of tank, then, it is as if research costs have become a tenth of what they were when those ten countries researched their own unilateral models. When such economies of scale apply across the full range of military equipment and training, the savings are staggering. It has been shown that in war-torn regions, local wars impact the economy of the whole neighbourhood. It is in everyone's interest that even remote regional wars are ended quickly. A knock-on effect of conflict is an immediate increase in military spending in all recovering countries, and such spending is inefficient. Paul Collier, Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, argues that international peace-keeping forces make much more economic sense and is beneficial to the entire region (and therefore to the world economy at large). “Military spending by post-conflict governments is highly dysfunctional. This intervention is all costs and no benefits. By contrast, external military peace-keeping interventions appear to be highly cost effective.” As poverty is a leading cause of civil unrest, it holds that rapid international military intervention benefits the world as a whole in the long term. Also, the curbing of national expenditure on military forces achieves the same aim. Existing Military Unions (Blue Helmets & African Union)'Blue Helmets' is the colloquial term give to United Nations peacekeeper forces, recognized by their distinctive light blue helmets. There have been over 60 UN peacekeeping missions since their first encounter in Israel, 1948. The Blue Helmets do not constitute a stable, permanent 'army': for every mission, countries volunteer new forces: "it can take the Secretary-General and the UN staff months to secure even the small contributions of forces and equipment needed to staff the mission - months in which the humanitarian disasters continue to claim victims"6. Sometimes this delays, or even forbids, the required action. This shortcoming has resulted in genocides continuing, despite the UN's conviction to stop them, whilst troops are gathered and deals made with governments. Clearly, there is scope to do much better, and the most rational, effective solution is to create a united democratic world army. Tying together the themes laid out above, the economic advantages of pooled military resources and the peace-ensuring nature of a pan-continental force as opposed to nationalist armies, Timothy Murithi summarizes the position of the African Union (AU) on its continued establishment of an African-wide peacekeeping force: “The AU intends to achieve much more in terms of integrating the African defence forces and reducing the overall costs that individual countries have to spend in financing their own military forces. This would in effect herald the creation of a Pan-African Armed Forces. This idea was championed by Kwame Nkrumah during the era of decolonization in Africa in the early 1960's. [...] The idea has gestated over the intervening forty odd years and now the sentiment is that an integrated continental armed force is necessary to conduct police action and peacekeeping operations across the continent. The obstacle of course is that many African governments, or rather the regimes of dubious legitimacy that control them, still retain egotistical state-centric attitudes. [...] The AU plans to have its own Pan-African Stand-by Rapid-Reaction force composed of 15,000 troops by the year 2010.” The infant AU forces are sometimes more symbolic than effective, such as the 300-strong deterrent force in Darfur (Sudan, 2004). But as the aim is to enact AU intervention before situations escalate (Murithi p108), its permanent-natured force has much potential about it; and indeed, it has already acted quickly and effectively in many African conflicts, contributing well to the struggle for African peace. 2007 saw the construction of a combined UN and AU force for Sudan (because its government does not trust the UN)7. Although some observers think that this is merely the United Nations "dressed up in the green helmets of the AU"7, it should hopefully be a sign of things to come when the UN does indeed assemble missions out of existing, permanent forces, sometimes being comprised of local continental forces if that is what is required. If only all continents housed such permanent reactionary forces for the United Nations! Their effectiveness has been proven in the cases where the United Nations and/or the African Union have deployed forces; even when such forces fail the fact that they sometimes succeed. The establishment of a permanent Uniforce is proven in principle. National Special OperationsIndividual countries will want to retain some offensive assets. These will be used for rapid, emergency missions and small incursions into foreign soil for specific national aims (such as the rescue of nationals). Sometimes, a defensive force does need to operate abroad. Such special operations forces are likely to be comprised of the countries' best and most elite forces, but, they could never wage an offensive war on their own. It is unlikely any country will forego its access to its own most elite troops for a hundred years from the founding of a Uniforce. First, an international force would have to prove that it's rapid reaction corps is capable, effective, impartial and stable over a timespan of many decades. Before then, no large country will completely de-boot its prized forces. ConclusionsA permanent international military force with its own international training camps, above the control of any particular government, can bring unprecedented world peace in the same way that fifty years of the European Community has ended war between its members: war between countries such as China and Japan will become as unlikely as a new war between France and the UK. It will be paid for by national governments who then need to spend much less on defence. Economies of scale also means that the world as a whole spends much less on defence. Uniforce would be answerable to a board of national defence politicians. The funding of Uniforce will be capped so that no particular nation can exert undue influence. An international force cannot be used for unilateral purposes because its men and officers would naturally refuse to perform such a role. National forces can concentrate solely on defence. If all countries concentrated on defence, warmongering would be much less successful because national assets would not be conducive to it. Rogue states would understand for all time that unilateral arms races are over; the international military force could not be matched by individual national armies. References: (What's this?)Barnett, Robinson & Rose (Eds.) Einstein, Albert (1879-1955) Glover. J Harris, Sam Lomborg, Bjorn (Ed.) Murithi, Timothy Smith, Gen. Sir Rupert Notes:
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