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War is commonly conceived of as the result of a bargaining process between states. However, war also has redistributive consequences within a state: certain groups face disproportionate costs (e.g., likely conscripts), whereas other groups may accrue most of the benefits (military contractors, politicians, etc.). War should thus be viewed simultaneously as the result of a bargaining process between domestic groups. This article presents a two-level game in which the relative importance of domestic groups to a government can impact the likelihood of going to war, but only under certain conditions. In particular, a necessary condition for domestic distributive politics to matter for war onset is the existence of redistributive frictions between domestic parties. This allows the model to produce a new explanation for why war may occur despite the fact that it is Pareto inefficient: inability to costlessly redistribute value between war’s beneficiaries and the beneficiaries of any peaceful bargain.

Objective To investigate the nature and magnitude of relations of systolic and diastolic blood pressures in late adolescence to mortality.Design Nationwide cohort study.Setting General community in Sweden.Participants Swedish men (n=1 207 141) who had military conscription examinations between 1969 and 1995 at a mean age of 18.4 years, followed up for a median of 24 (range 0-37) years.Main outcome measures Total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and non-cardiovascular mortality.Results During follow-up, 28 934 (2.4%) men died. The relation of systolic blood pressure to total mortality was U shaped, with the lowest risk at a systolic blood pressure of about 130 mm Hg. This pattern was driven by the relation to non-cardiovascular mortality, whereas the relation to cardiovascular mortality was monotonically increasing (higher risk with higher blood pressure). The relation of diastolic blood pressure to mortality risk was monotonically increasing and stronger than that of systolic blood pressure, in terms of both relative risk and population attributable fraction (deaths that could be avoided if blood pressure was in the optimal range). Relations to cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality were similar, with an apparent risk threshold at a diastolic blood pressure of about 90 mm Hg, below which diastolic blood pressure and mortality were unrelated, and above which risk increased steeply with higher diastolic blood pressures.Conclusions In adolescent men, the relation of diastolic blood pressure to mortality was more consistent than that of systolic blood pressure. Considering current efforts for earlier detection and prevention of risk, these observations emphasise the risk associated with high diastolic blood pressure in young adulthood.

The major argument in their letter was that affective psychoses should not be included with other psychoses, and they raise concern that this would not provide accurate results in general. 3 Bechtold J, Hipwell A, Lewis DA, Loeber R, Pardini D. Concurrent and sustained cumulative effects of adolescent marijuana use on subclinical psychotic symptoms. 10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.15070878 4 Zammit S, Allebeck P, Andreasson S, Lundberg I, Lewis G. Self reported cannabis use as a risk factor for schizophrenia in Swedish conscripts of 1969: historical cohort study.

Purpose Myopia prevalence is increasing globally, with the highest rates found in Asia. Data from European countries is scarce. We aimed to investigate whether the prevalence of myopia is rising in our meridians. Methods Data from male military conscripts for the recruitment period of 2008–2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Year of recruitment, conscripts’ birth year, visual acuity, refractive status (spherical equivalent), and spectacle wear (yes/no) were available. Results The dataset contained data of a total of 355,657 male conscripts, who had been recruited in the years 2008 to 2017. The mean number of conscripts per year was 35,566 (MD = 35,440, SD = 1249), reaching a minimum number of 33,998 conscripts in 2017 and a maximum of 37,594 in 2011. Mean age at recruitment was 19.7 years (MD = 19.0 years, SD = 1.1 years). Overall, the number of conscripts wearing spectacles remained stable over the observation time; on average 29.6% ( n  = 10,540; MD = 10,472; SD = 492) of conscripts wore glasses at recruitment. Of 21.8% ( n  = 77,698) of conscripts, data on the refractive status was available: The mean spherical equivalent for both right and left eyes was -2.3D (MD = -2 D, SD = 2.4 D). No decrease in mean spherical equivalent per recruitment year was noted over the observation period. Estimated myopia prevalence reached an average of 27.5% (SD = 0.8%) and did not increase during the observation period. Conclusion In summary, no change in spherical equivalent refractive errors of male Swiss army conscripts was found for the years 2008–2017. Equally, the percentage of spectacle wearers (MN = 29.6%) and estimated myopia prevalence (MN = 27.5%) did not significantly increase during the observation time. Trial registration : BASEC 2019-00060 (18/01/2019)

This research considers the role that participating in conscript service has for individuals with a migrant background in overcoming barriers to labour market integration. According to previous studies, these barriers include discrimination, previous qualifications not being recognised and a lack of language skills, networks and information. The study is based on 24 interviews conducted with individuals with a migrant background who have performed conscript service in Finland. The research takes place in the context of conscription and mandatory conscript service among male citizens. The findings indicate that conscript service may have some direct and indirect beneficial outcomes for labour market integration. Direct labour market outcomes are particularly related to qualifications acquired during service, which can be directly applied in the civilian labour market. Indirect outcomes are associated with acculturation, such as learning the language and becoming familiar with the host society’s culture and norms. Performing conscript service also facilitates the establishment of social networks, especially with native-born youngsters. Furthermore, conscript service is perceived to have the potential to elevate conscripts’ status in the eyes of potential Finnish employers. As a result, completing conscript service enhances location-specific human capital, and therefore, it can potentially improve labour market integration outcomes.

What explains the use of military conscription? Using a new data set of more than 100 countries over a period of 200 years, we examine the determinants of a state's decision to implement a military draft. We argue that the decision to use conscription is largely dependent on historical factors. Specifically, we contend that former British colonies are less likely to use conscription as a means of military recruitment because of an anticonscription precedent set during the English Civil War. We find that former British colonies are far less likely to opt for conscription, even after controlling for counter arguments relating to a state's colonial legacy. We also examine a number of existing explanations for the use of conscripts, using the data to arbitrate previous debates. We find that democracies are less likely to implement the draft, while states involved in an interstate war or interstate rivalry are more likely to do so.

Purpose: Cannabis (marijuana) smoke and tobacco smoke contain many of the same potent carcinogens, but a critical—yet unresolved—medical and public-health issue is whether cannabis smoking might facilitate the development of lung cancer. The current study aimed to assess the risk of lung cancer among young marijuana users. Methods: A population-based cohort study examined men (n = 49,321) aged 18–20 years old assessed for cannabis use and other relevant variables during military conscription in Sweden in 1969–1970. Participants were tracked until 2009 for incident lung cancer outcomes in nationwide linked medical registries. Cox regression modeling assessed relationships between cannabis smoking, measured at conscription, and the hazard of subsequently receiving a lung cancer diagnosis. Results: At the baseline conscription assessment, 10.5 % (n = 5,156) reported lifetime use of marijuana and 1.7 % (n = 831) indicated lifetime use of more than 50 times, designated as \"heavy\" use. Cox regression analyses (n = 44,284) found that such \"heavy\" cannabis smoking was significantly associated with more than a twofold risk (hazard ratio 2.12, 95 % CI 1.08–4.14) of developing lung cancer over the 40-year follow-up period, even after statistical adjustment for baseline tobacco use, alcohol use, respiratory conditions, and socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Our primary finding provides initial longitudinal evidence that cannabis use might elevate the risk of lung cancer. In light of the widespread use of marijuana, especially among adolescents and young adults, our study provides important data for informing the risk–benefit calculus of marijuana smoking in medical, public-health, and drug-policy settings.

Coffee has been grown on Java for the commercial market since the early eighteenth century, when the Dutch East India Company began buying from peasant producers in the Priangan highlands. What began as a commercial transaction, however, soon became a system of compulsory production. This book shows how the Dutch East India Company mobilised land and labour, why they turned to force cultivation, and what effects the brutal system they installed had on the economy and society.

We examine a sample of Norwegian twin conscripts for evidence of an interaction between parental education and the heritability of general cognitive ability (GA). Ability scores were obtained on 1706 pairs of twins who were conscripted into the Norwegian Armed Forces between 1931and 1960. Education scores were available for mothers and fathers; the majority of the parents had less than a high school education. GA scores were heteroscadistic with respect to mid-parent education, with reduced variability at higher levels of education. Both MZ and DZ twin correlations for GA were linearly and negatively related to mid-parent education, DZ twins substantially more so. When the model was extended to an ACE model consisting of standardized positive ACE variance components, the modification appeared to disappear. Further analysis revealed that this occurred because the steep decline of DZ twin correlations with increasing mid-parent education resulted in a violation of the classical twin model for much of the parameter space. Other phenomena that might result in large declines in DZ twin correlations are considered, along with implications for other studies of socioeconomic interactions with the heritability of GA in European samples.

Background: The nation’s defense relies on a cadre of young individuals with strong physical and mental health. The study aimed to identify health behavior-related correlates of physical and mental health in future conscripts. Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised 676 male school students with an average age of 18.48 (1.15) years. The measures of weekly physical activity, nutrition (Kidmed questionnaire), psychological well-being (WHO-5 Well-Being Index), psychological distress (Kessler scale), cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m Shuttle Run test), weight, and height for calculation of body mass index were taken. Results: Among potential conscripts (17–19-year-old males), 22% have poor cardiorespiratory fitness. More than a quarter of young males have poor psychological well-being. Better cardiorespiratory fitness is related to more recommendations-adherent nutrition (Std β = 0.133 [0.03–0.14], p < 0.05). Engagement in sports is related to better cardiorespiratory fitness (Std β = 0.202 [0.10–0.30], p < 0.05). Higher psychological distress is associated with more time spent passively (Std β = 0.145 [0.12–0.34], p < 0.01); better psychological well-being is associated with more adherent nutrition (Std β = 0.172 [0.14–0.34], p < 0.0001), more hours accumulated in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Std β = 0.150 [0.30–1.10], p < 0.01), and less time spent passively (Std β = −0.131 [−0.34–−0.11]). Conclusions: Potential conscripts’ physical fitness and mental health are related to better health behaviors. Behavior change practices and policies applied at school could benefit potential conscripts and youth in general in terms of their physical and mental health.