A volunteer military or all-volunteer military is one which derives its manpower from volunteers rather than conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

 or mandatory service. A country may offer attractive pay and benefits through military recruitment

Military recruitment

Military recruitment is the act of requesting people, usually male adults, to join a military voluntarily. Involuntary military recruitment is known as conscription. Many countries that have abolished conscription use military recruiters to persuade people to join, often at an early age. To...

 to attract volunteers. Many countries with volunteer militaries reserve the right to renew conscription in the event of an emergency.

In recent decades, there had been a general in numerous countries to move from conscription to all-volunteer military forces, significantly including in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 which had historically been the first to introduce modern conscription

Levée en masse

Levée en masse is a French term for mass conscription during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the one from 16 August 1793.- Terminology :...

and whose model was followed by many others.

Volunteer military

(2011)
(2011)

List of countries planning to replace conscription with a volunteer military in the near future

For further reading

Greenberg, Greg A., Robert A. Rosenheck, and Rani A. Desai.
“Risk of Incarceration among Male Veterans and Nonveterans: Are Veterans of the All Volunteer Force at Greater Risk.”
Armed Forces & Society, Apr 2007; vol. 33: pp. 337–350.
http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/3/337

Gilroy, Curtis L., Robert L. Phillips, and John D. Blair.
“The All-Volunteer Army: Fifteen Years Later.”
Armed Forces & Society, Apr 1990; vol. 16: pp. 329–350.
http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/329

Snyder, William P.
“Officer Recruitment for the All-Volunteer Force: Trends and Prospects.”
Armed Forces & Society, Apr 1984; vol. 10: pp. 401–425.
http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/3/401

Bachman, Jerald G. and John D. Blair.
“’Citizen Force’ or ‘Career Force’?: Implications for Ideology in the All-Volunteer Army.”
Armed Forces & Society, Oct 1975; vol. 2: pp. 81-96.
http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/2/1/81

McNown, Robert F., Bernard Udis, and Colin Ash.
“Economic Analysis of the All-Volunteer Force.”
Armed Forces & Society, Oct 1980; vol. 7: pp. 113–132.
http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/1/113

Janowitz, Morris and Charles C. Moskos, Jr.
“Five Years of the All-Volunteer Force: 1973-1978.
Armed Forces & Society, Jan 1979; vol. 5: pp. 171–218.
http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/5/2/171