| Part of a series on |
| War (outline) |
|---|
.jpg) |
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Few nations, such as Israel, require a specific amount of military service from every citizen, except for special cases, such as limitation determined by a military physical or religious belief. Most countries that use conscription systems only conscript men; a few countries also conscript women.[1] For example, Norway, Sweden, North Korea, Israel, and Eritrea conscript both men and women. However, only Norway and Sweden have a gender-neutral conscription system, where men and women are conscripted and serve on equal formal terms.[2] Some nations with conscription systems do not enforce them.
Nations which conscript for military service typically also rely on citizens choosing to join the armed forces as a career.[3]
Some nations with armed forces do not conscript their personnel (e.g. most NATO and European Union states). Instead, they promote military careers to attract and select recruits; see military recruitment.
Some, usually smaller, nations have no armed forces at all or rely on an armed domestic security force (e.g. police, coast guard).
- ^ "4 Countries With Mandatory Military Service for Men and Women Politics - Entity". Entity. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Persson, Alma; Sundevall, Fia (17 December 2019). "Conscripting women: gender, soldiering, and military service in Sweden 1965–2018". Women's History Review. 28 (7): 1039–1056. doi:10.1080/09612025.2019.1596542. ISSN 0961-2025.
- ^ Child Soldiers International (2012). "Louder than words: An agenda for action to end state use of child soldiers". Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.