Militarization - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Militarization is when society gets ready for war and violence. It is connected to militarism, which is a belief that a country should have a strong military. The process of militarization affects many different parts of society and is complex.^[1]

The amount of danger that is thought to exist affects how much a country needs to be able to fight and protect itself. If a country does not feel like it is in danger,^[1] for example: Canada, it might not have as big of a military or as many weapons. But in Israel, because there is a risk of attack from other countries nearby, the military and defense are important and get a lot of money and people. This danger could come from:

• Other countries being more powerful (like in Europe before World War I)^[2][3]
• Terrorism,^[1] countries that don't follow international laws,^[4] weapons of mass destruction and state terrorism (governments that use violence to control their or other governments people^[5][6][7][8])
• Interests of a country being threatened, like control of an area with a lot of oil, or stopping an idea that is different from the country's own ideas (like how the USA used CIA to weaken governments that were communist)

Militaristic ideas are used in non-military situations. For example, when President Lyndon B. Johnson talked about fighting poverty, and President Richard Nixon talked about fighting drugs, they were not talking about real wars with an enemy that can be defeated. They were talking about how much work, effort, and dedication is needed to solve these problems.^[9] Sometimes, politicians use militaristic ideas when they create teams of government workers to solve important political or social problems. These teams are often called "task forces." Using militaristic ideas can also help politicians to have more power, because in war time, the leader of the country has more power than usual.^[10]

Militarization of police means when police officers use military equipment and tactics. This includes things like armored vehicles, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, and SWAT teams. It is also connected to when police gather information on the public and political activists in the same way as intelligence agencies and when police use more aggressive methods. A criminal justice professor named Peter Kraska defines the militarization of police as when the police start to act more like the military and follow their ways of doing things.

• Militarism
• Martial law

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