stati senza esercito

Are there countries without an army? Yes: here are some, from Costa Rica to the Vatican, and why they are

Yes, they exist in the world Countries without armies and they are more than we could imagine. Since, however, there is no agreed definition of “disarmed country”, it is difficult to indicate the precise number of states that they have no military forces. If we considered all the cases for which a state could be considered without an army, at least 20 countries would fall into this category: some Why they reject the military forces in your own Constitutionothers – like former colonies – Why they depend defensively on other countries and still others that only predict the existence of police or paramilitary forces who play defensive roles. The absence of an army it should not be confused with neutrality in the event of war: a country can be neutral and have an army (like Switzerland) or it can be non-neutral and not have an army. Let’s see some examples of countries without an army: Costa Rica, Iceland, Vatican City, Kiribati and Mauritius.

SOME COUNTRIES WITHOUT ARMY

Costa Rica

There Costa Rica it is a famous case counted among the countries without an army: in 1948in fact, after the civil war that broke out in the country, the new government decided to disband the national army and of amend the Constitution in 1949effectively abolishing the national regular army. The military budget was converted and merged into the educational budget for education. Currently the country, despite not having a real army, has one civil public force who also supervises the internal security, with limited military capabilities. Costa Rica is considered an example of culture of peacewhich decided to convert military spending by investing in so-called “human development”, i.e education, healthcare and cultural sector. In Costa Rica, in the city of Colòn, there is also the University for Peace (UPEACE), founded in 1980 by the United Nations.

Image
Plaque commemorating the symbolic act of the abolition of the army in Costa Rica. National Museum of Costa Rica. Credits: Rodrigo Fernández via Wikimedia commons

Iceland

Like Costa Rica, theIceland it has no standing army. Despite being a member of NATO, it has no regular military forces. Until 1951 its defense was entrusted to the United States through a bilateral agreement, but subsequently, in 2006, the US contingent withdrew from the country. From the point of view of internal security, the coast guard it is the entity responsible for defending the island from possible external attacks, being also trained to intervene in cases of military attacks.

In addition to Iceland, in Europe The states that do not have a regular army are: Andorra, Vatican City, Liechtenstein, Monaco And San Marino. None of these states are part of the European Union and, except Vatican City, they are all members of the United Nations. The Principality of Monaco does not have a regular army, except for the ceremonial palace guards, and has entered into defense pacts with the Franceas well as Andorra. The latter, however, as well as with France, has also signed defense agreements with its neighbour Spain. The Principality of Liechtenstein he abolished his army in 1868 but it has a national police force and, in the event of war, has a defense pact with the Swiss.

Vatican City

Vatican Citybeing a neutral state, does not have a real defense treaty with Italy. The armed unit that is responsible for protecting the Pope is the Pontifical Swiss Guardunder the authority of the Holy See, while the Gendarmerie carries out the functions within the competence of the Police such as public order, border protection, judicial police.

Kiribati

The Constitution of the State of Kiribati in article 126 establishes that it does not possess regular armed forces. The only security force provided in the country is a force of policewhich includes, in addition to the penitentiary one, also amaritime surveillance and protection unit for internal security. Kiribati, in fact, not having its own army, depends from a defensive point of view on other states, which are represented in this case by Australia and New Zealandwho can intervene to help you if requested.

Mauritius

Mauritius, achieved independence from Great Britain in 1968disbanded his army and currently has a small mobile force special and one national coast guard who carry out paramilitary functions, therefore equipped with light weapons. Police and security functions, however, are under the command of the police commissioner.

In addition to these, there are then other states who do not have a regular army: Panama which abolished the army in 1990Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands which despite not having their own military forces have signed a defense treaty with the United States. Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Dominica which are part of the Caribbean Regional Security System (RSS). Nauru and Samoa which from a defense point of view depend respectively on Australia and New Zealand. In the end Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands which, in addition to not having a regular army, have no defense treaties with any nation.