ABSTRACT
The idea of optimum military size, of course, is as old as the concept of organised politics, military organisation and society itself. The contradictory insights of traditional political philosophy and of military theory, the concept of optimum military size also owes some of its aspects to the notion of ‘span of control’ known to management and organisational theory. Judged by the way many Nigerians who have used it in the context of the demobilisation debate, the concept of optimum military size has a meaning similar to ‘the law of diminishing returns’ fundamental to economics. Of course, there is another principle known to this same discipline which works contrary effects, and this is the so called principle of ‘economies of scale’. A factor that influences the optimum military size of is availability of technical and technological resources. But, unlike first two just discussed, this particular factor is inversely related to military size.
