Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0036/00361.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 10KB | 182 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00361}
$Pretitle{370}
$Title{Belgium
Chapter 5A.   National Security}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Peter J. Kassander}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{belgium
belgian
forces
armed
defense
military
system
army
german
national}
$Date{1984}
$Log{Neoclassical French*0036101.scf
}
Country:     Belgium
Book:        Belgium, A Country Study
Author:      Peter J. Kassander
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Chapter 5A.   National Security

[See Neoclassical French: Neoclassical French architecture, Brussels (ca.
1800).]

     The failure of past policies of neutrality has convinced the Belgian
people that a coordinated collective response was necessary not only to
protect Belgian territory but also to deter future aggression in Western
Europe. The armed forces of Belgium have therefore been fully integrated into
the collective security framework of post-World War II Western Europe. A
founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Belgium has
consistently supported the alliance with manpower and financial contributions
despite economic hardship and political turmoil.

     Although the king is technically commander in chief of the armed forces,
they are under the operational authority of the Ministry of National Defense
and a joint ministerial committee composed of the ministers of national
defense; foreign affairs; the interior and public office; justice and
institutional reform; and communications posts, telephones, and telegraphs.
This committee collectively oversees the three conventional military
services-the army, navy, and air force-as well as the gendarmerie, which is
the internal security or state police force. The Ministry of National Defense
and the General Staff provide centralized logistic support, major policy
direction and planning, and the allocation of tasks among the services, which
nevertheless train separately and retain distinct individuality.

     Approximately two-thirds of the armed forces are volunteer or career
military personnel; the gendarmerie is all volunteer. The army, having a
larger component of its staff deployed in the field, draws about 50 percent
of its personnel from the draft; the navy and air force have smaller
percentages of conscripts. Eighteen-and 19-year-old men are subject to
conscription. After considerable debate throughout Belgian history, both
parliament and the armed forces make every effort to keep the selective
service system equitable for all economic, linguistic, and social groups.

     Despite economic hardship Belgium has maintained a steady rate of
spending for defense at a level of approximately 2.5 percent of the gross
domestic product and has managed a 3-percent annual increase in spending
allocated to NATO. The Belgian industrial sector also has had an effect on
defense, especially in the manufacture and assembly of small arms for export
and in the co-production of F-16 fighter aircraft for Europe and the United
States.

     Belgium has been an integral member of NATO since the inception of the
alliance in 1949. Despite some opposition Belgium has generally supported the
NATO modernization programs for air defense and intermediate-range nuclear
weapons. Ground-launched cruise missiles have been assigned to a base in
Florennes in the province of Namur and were expected to be operational by
early 1985; however, the final decision on Belgian acceptance of the missiles
was subject to domestic political considerations. In late 1984, however,
improvements in the air defense system were subject to intense debate;
decisions to upgrade the existing defense system were based on economic, not
military, considerations.

     Internal security has been maintained by the gendarmerie, the Criminal
Police, the municipal police forces, and the rural constabulary. Criminal
justice was administered by a three-tiered judicial system. The great majority
of the convicted received conditional sentences of weekend imprisonment or
community service in lieu of more severe penalties. Belgium is generally
regarded as free from human rights abuses.

Historical Background

     The armed services in Belgium have traditionally been regarded as a force
to be drawn from the people, who have regarded national defense as a personal
as well as a national responsibility. The armed forces were considered a
shield of protection, not only from foreign invasion but also from tyranny at
home. Several factors have nonetheless interfered with public support for the
armed forces. Powerful neighbors exerted pressure on Belgium throughout the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, forcing it to maintain a policy of
positive neutrality. By curtailing external involvement of the Belgian armed
forces, the policy of neutrality left the military with no visible mission
and no base for public support. Morale within the military was difficult to
maintain. Conscription practices also led to dissatisfaction; those unable to
purchase exemptions and those willing to sell their services to the wealthy
made up the bulk of the Belgian military in the nineteenth century.

     In spite of these factors, however, some military tradition and esprit de
corps did develop. A few families made successful military careers, and many
more developed close camaraderie during their service in the Civil Guard. The
guard was established at the time of independence, in 1830, and continued as
the internal security militia until 1921, when it was replaced by the modern
gendarmerie. In 1984 some elderly Belgians still recalled the plumed helmets
and ornate uniforms that were worn by the guards during parades and other
ceremonies. The working class, however, had little sympathy for the Civil
Guard because it was frequently required to suppress workers' demonstrations
for higher pay and improved working conditions. They also did not care for
the regular army, in which the workers served as conscripts.

     The selective service evolved from an inadequate system of favoritism in
the nineteenth century to an inherently egalitarian system in the 1980s.
Selective service was originally conceived as a means of creating a
broad-based armed force responsible to the elected government, rather than a
select group of professional warriors hired by, and responsible exclusively
to, the head of state. The Belgians wished to avoid the French and Prussian
experience in which strong leaders used the national army to satisfy personal
ambitions.

     Until 1910 selection of individuals for conscription was determined by
lottery. The law also provided loopholes for those not wishing to serve.
A lottery number was regarded as "good" if it resulted in an exemption, "bad"
if it led to selection. Poor individuals with bad numbers served long tours of
duty with little or no compensation. Wealthy individuals with bad numbers were
often able to arrange for a paid substitute to serve in their place. Insurance
companies wrote policies covering bad luck at the lottery. The inequities of
the selective service system also caused political and social unrest (see
World War I, ch. 1).

     The system was widely recognized as unsatisfactory, and 17 laws were
written attempting to correct it between 1830 and 1910. Finally, in 1913,
universal compulsory service was adopted and the lottery abandoned. The law
has been modified over time, but changes adopted in the 1960s made the draft
as equitable and generally acceptable as it has ever been in Belgium.

     Belgium has often been a pawn in the game of European power politics. In
1815 the combined armies of Britain, Prussia, and Imperial Russia defeated
Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, making possible the creation of an
independent Belgium in 1830. The guaranteed neutrality of the new state was to
be ensured by the great powers, who allowed Belgium to exist as a territorial
buffer state between them. The guarantee, however, was not enforced.

     The German "Schlieffen Plan" deliberately violated Belgian neutrality in
August 1914,