How does militarization affect the ecological footprint? The case of the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia

This study examines the effects of militarization on environmental degradation in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) and Russia, which are located in Eastern Europe and Eurasia and are not members of the European Union, over the period 1996-2022. The main research question of the study is whether there are long-run and short-run effects of the increase in military expenditures on the ecological footprint in these countries. Within the scope of panel data analysis, Westerlund (2008) cointegration test shows that there is a long-run relationship between militarization and ecological footprint. Long-run coefficient estimates suggest that increasing militarization increases environmental degradation. The findings are consistent with the Treadmill of Destruction theory, which argues that military activities lead to ecological destruction. On the other hand, Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) panel causality test shows that there is no significant causal relationship between militarization and ecological footprint in the short-run. As a policy recommendation, it is suggested to redirect military energy consumption to cleaner sources, such as nuclear and renewable energy and to integrate the environmental dimension into defence planning. Moreover, allocating a certain portion of defence budgets to environmental research and development activities may contribute to reducing the ecological impacts of military activities.