Military Conscription Necessary In The United States?

Military conscription is the mandatory enlistment of civilians into some sort of national service, involving a form of service in an army. Using Singapore as an empirical example in this paper, I argue that military conscription is necessary for the survival of the state because in this anarchical and unpredictable international system, wars are inevitable, therefore conscription aids in building a plausible military deterrence force. Furthermore, military conscription is desirable to maintain political stability, which is a prerequisite to economic growth as well as a means of fostering social cohesion. In the context of Singapore, conscription takes the form of a two-years long national service stint for every 18-year-old male citizen and a reservist
Essentially, neorealism affirms that wars and conflicts are unavoidable due to an anarchical international system where there is an absence of a central, global authority to restrain all politicians’ war mongering tendencies, resulting in states having the need to fend for themselves to ensure their survival . Therefore, states needs to build up military strength through conscription to safeguard its survival if war is ever to break out. Henceforth, amassing enough military proficiency will increase the disbursement of aggressions & make any abeyant adversaries hesitate before attacking. Apply neorealism to the Singapore context; geopolitically, Singapore is an infinitesimal “Chinese state in a Malay sea” which it views as a conceivable ideological threat. Since 1971, Singapore has practised the “poison shrimp” doctrine extracted from Israel’s doctrine of