Optimal Versus Required Defence Spending

The recent rescheduling of the Turkish long-term defence procurement programmes following the economic crisis in the country and the reaction of the Greek authorities to reduce their own by about 25% has become the subject of extensive discussions. The issues involved in such discussions concern the possibility of a causal relationship between the developments in the two countries and the extent to which the two sides entangled, for ages now, in an expensive arms race, can afford a reduction of their defence expenditure. This leads to the next question, which involves the calculation of an “optimal” defence burden providing for maximum security in the face of an outside threat bounded by the constraints imposed by the economy.