The Ukraine war has proven that the 'citizen-militia' concept is superior to professional militaries. Ukraine has managed to beat Russia, the 2nd largest threat any independent country is reasonably going to face.

Sure, they might not have stood up to an invasion from America, but they don't need to, America is largely isolationist these days. China is more iffy, but is also much more hesitant to actually invade anyone than Russia is. The largest threat any nation is going to face is Russia...and Ukraine managed to beat them with hastily thrown together conscripts and cheap drones assembled at home. With 6 billion dollars, Ukraine has managed to beat a Russian military spending 160 billion dollars.

Since nobody is going to face a stronger military than Russia really, you can easily get away with a cheap civilian-soldier conscript army that you only raise in times of war.