ABSTRACT
Comparisons of military expenditures and arms sales can provide important insights into the broad trends in military effort but they must be kept in careful perspective. Countries differ sharply in the size of their economy, and in the relative military effort they make at any given time. Both Israel and its Arab neighbors have made significant reductions in the percent of their total economies devoted to military spending. There are three major sources of comparable data of the military expenditures and arms sales of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria: Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, SIPRI, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Egypt is the only Arab “ring state” with significant military industrial output, but the sophistication of its output does not approach that of Israel. Israel may have tightened its military spending, but its economy is one of the most robust in the Middle East.
