military-civilian ratio

military-civilian ratio

the ratio of the military (and those in military-related occupations) to the total adult population (Andreski, Military Organization and Society 1954). While in preindustrial societies based on an armed citizenry this ratio was high (e.g. the city states of ancient Greece), it is considered more meaningful in modern states, where standing armies and a clear distinction between the civilian population and the military are a feature of the apparatus of the modern NATION STATE. This picture is complicated, however, by the existence in many of these states of the temporary compulsory enlistment, i.e. conscription, of a proportion of the civilian population, in times of peace as well as war. see also TOTAL WAR.