After graduation, every citizen would be required to keep a weapon in the home, and asked to serve in their community guard, which would train a couple times a year. Defense plans would be built on a street-to-street basis, and every large metropolis would also have more advanced weaponry available to civil servants and block commanders in case of invasion. This training would both protect the future democracy of the country, and assure that any nation wishing to invade would face a true quagmire of house-to-house fighting in every city.
I would then focus on making the nation an economic asset to the larger world. I would first work to assure that the country was self-sufficient, through government subsidies and tax-shelters, setting the land up with its own agriculture and manufacturing...
One of the greatest problems for many emerging nations seems to be that their natural resources are being taken to other countries and then the products of their resources are sold back to them at a loss. I would attempt to make the country free of external dependence, because doing so would also decrease the nations susceptibility to trade embargoes and other such economic pressure. However, I would balance this tough stance with lenient banking laws that could allow international groups to funnel large amounts of money into the nation (a la Switzerland) without devaluing the local economy. Being in a position where the country was economically independent would be in itself a sort of military victory, because it would prevent economic warfare against the country.
