Nonmilitary defense strategy

Essay by usmcdaddyUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, February 2005

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Non-Military Defense Strategy

Social Defense is a way to protect ourselves from foreign invasions or internal coups through active, nonviolent resistance and noncooperation, including economic boycotts by consumers and producers, social and political boycotts of institutions, strikes, overtaking facilities and administrative systems important to the opponent, stalling and obstructing, being deliberately inefficient, ostracizing, influencing occupying troops, and other forms of not complying. Military defense seeks to prevent an enemy from invading by threatening battle losses at the border. Social defense sets an unacceptably high price on staying-ceaseless resistance. It spoils the spoils of war and deprives the aggressor of the fruits of victory. The price of aggression becomes so high that occupation is no longer worth it. (Kelly, 499)

The defense of any nation is crucial to maintaining the lives and lifestyles of the people that stay within its borders. The way to completely defend a nation from a damaging force is a debatable question.

One group of people with a somewhat radical view of how to properly defend a nation is the Green Party. Petra Kelly was a cofounder of this party and a loyal nonviolent activist. In the previous passage from her Essay Nonviolent Social Defense, she spells out the path she believes a nation could follow to defend its people without violence or military involvement. Does she make a good argument to why non-military defense can work, and if so, is it a realistic approach to solving the problems we face in today's world.

In this passage, and the essay as a whole, the opinions and hopes of her and her fellow "Greens" are expressed clearly to be peace and nonviolence at all costs. It seems the method of defense is to let the aggressor roll right in and take over. At that point the mass...