
Foreign Policy
Apr 17, 2022 - 12 min
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The all-volunteer model has proved successful in modern war. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, many experts and political commentators didn't honestly believe the latter would stand a chance. Yet, almost three months later, not only is Ukraine still standing, but its forces have also clearly exposed some fundamental problems within Russia's military. For Max Z. Margulies and Laura Resnick Samotin, the key to understanding this is how Russia's reliance on conscripts fails dramatically compared to Ukraine's 'patriotic' approach.