Military Conscription in contemporary Europe – how and why states still use it?

• Thesis title in Czech: Povinná vojenská služba v soudobé Evropě – jak a proč jí státy stále využívají?
• Thesis title in English: Military Conscription in contemporary Europe – how and why states still use it?
• Key words: Ozbrojené složky, povinný vojenská služba, armáda, Evropa, společensko-vojenské vztahy, obrana, bezpečnost, civilní služba, NATO, EU
• English key words: Military, conscription, armed forces, Europe, civil-military relations, defense, security, civil service, NATO, EU
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2018/2019
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Security Studies (23-KBS)
• Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Kučera, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 27.03.2019
• Date of assignment: 27.03.2019
• Date and time of defence: 24.09.2020 00:00
• Date of electronic submission: 31.07.2020
• Date of proceeded defence: 24.09.2020
• Opponents: Mgr. Jan Ludvík, Ph.D.

References

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Preliminary scope of work

Tato práce se zabývá problematikou povinné vojenské služby na území Evropy. Snaží se reflektovat její dlouhý a komplikovaný vývoj, využití a následné opuštění jakožto způsobu získávání rekrutů pro potřeby ozbrojených sil, a to zejména v období po skončení studené války do současnosti. Zabývá se akademickou i neakademickou debatou reflektující její vývoj, typologii, příklady a způsoby jejího využití a snaží se odhalit a kategorizovat důvody, kvůli kterým byl koncept povinné vojenské služby v Evropě opuštěn. Dále se snaží tyto důvody reflektovat se současným děním v evropském bezpečnostním prostoru, historicky je porovnat, a na základě toho odpovědět na otázku, zdali je jejich relevance stále taková, jaká byla v předchozích letech. A to zejména v souvislosti s tím, že v případě některých států došlo a dochází ke znovuobnovení povinné vojenské a civilní služby, navzdory těmto dříve akcentovaným důvodům. Práce dochází k závěru, že relevance dříve uváděných důvodů pro odstranění povinné vojenské služby, jsou v kontextu současné bezpečnostní situace méně relevantní, než byly dříve.

Preliminary scope of work in English

This thesis addresses issues regarding military conscription within the European geographic area. It reflects lengthy and complicated evolution of military conscription, as well as its use case and eventual suspension or abolishment as a military recruitment tool in a post-Cold war Europe up until this day. Thesis also addresses academic and non-academic debate related to conscription and its development, typology, use-cases while it tries to uncover and summarize principal reasons, why was the concept of military conscription abandoned. Furthermore, it tries to evaluate those reasons against the current state of security environment in Europe, compare them and based on that, answer the question whether the relevance of those reasons is still valid or not. Especially in relation to the fact, that some of the countries that abolished conscription in the past, are bringing it back in form of mandatory military or civilian service, contrary to above mentioned reasons. Thesis comes to conclusion, that the relevancy of the issues with conscription from the past are less relevant in current European security environment.