Knowra Antimilitarism Antimilitarism Antimilitarism is opposition to militarism, including the expansion of military power and reliance on armed force to resolve disputes. It encompasses political movements, ethical arguments, and forms of resistance to military institutions and war.
Pacifism : The rejection of war and, in some forms, all violence as a means of resolving conflict. Pacifism often grounds antimilitarist opposition to war, though not every antimilitarist rejects all violence.
Military-industrial complex : The network of relationships among a state's armed forces, arms producers, and political institutions. Antimilitarists challenge the interests and influence that can sustain military expansion.
Peace movement : A broad collection of organizations and campaigns seeking to prevent war and promote peaceful conflict resolution. Antimilitarism is one strand within organized efforts to prevent war.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament : A British organization founded in 1958 to campaign for nuclear disarmament and oppose nuclear weapons. Its mass demonstrations made opposition to nuclear militarization visible in postwar Britain.
Conscientious objection : Refusal to perform military service or participate in war because of moral, religious, or political conviction. It turns opposition to military service into an individual claim of conscience.
Conscription : Compulsory enrollment of people into a state's armed forces. Resistance to conscription contests the state's power to compel military service.
Bertha von Suttner : An Austrian pacifist and writer whose novel Lay Down Your Arms! became a landmark of anti-war literature. Her work helped popularize opposition to militarism in late nineteenth-century Europe.
Vietnam War protests : Protests opposing United States involvement in the Vietnam War, especially prominent during the 1960s and 1970s. The protests joined opposition to a specific war with broader criticism of militarism.
Just war theory : A tradition of ethical reasoning that sets conditions for morally permissible war and conduct in war. It permits some wars, unlike antimilitarist positions that reject militarism as a political system.
Arms control : Agreements and policies that limit, regulate, or reduce weapons and military capabilities. Arms control can restrain military buildup without abolishing armed forces.
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