The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism

This wide-ranging, interdisciplinary analysis blends history, economics, and politics to challenge most of the prevailing accounts of the rise of U.S. militarism. While acknowledging the contributory role of some of the most widely-cited culprits (big oil, neoconservative ideology, the Zionist lobby, and President Bush's world outlook), this study explores the bigger, but largely submerged, picture: the political economy of war and militarism. The study is unique not only for its thorough examination of the economics of military spending, but also for its careful analysis of a series of closely related topics (petroleum, geopolitics, imperialism, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, the war in Iraq, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict) that may appear as digressions but, in fact, help shed more light on the main investigation.

Ismael Hossein-zadeh is Professor of Economics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He has previously published one book, Soviet Non-Capitalist Development: The Case of Nasser’s Egypt (1989), and a number of papers on significant topics. Those topics include long waves of economic expansion and decline, economic crises and restructuring policies, currency-trade relations, NAFTA and labor, Third World debt, determinants of presidential economic policies, the political economy of war and military spending, and the roots of conflict between the Muslim world and the West.

Introduction * The Military-Industrial Giant: An Empire in Itself * Imperial Militarisms: Past and Present * The Rise of U.S. Militarism * Inventing “Threats to Our National Interests” * Militant Islam, Terrorism, and “Clash of Civilizations” * Behind the Invasion of Iraq * Waste, Inefficiency and the Spoils of Military Spending * The Political Economy of U.S. Military Spending * Limits of U.S. Militarism

Introduction * The Military-Industrial Giant: An Empire in Itself * Imperial Militarisms: Past and Present * The Rise of U.S. Militarism * Inventing “Threats to Our National Interests” * Militant Islam, Terrorism, and “Clash of Civilizations” * Behind the Invasion of Iraq * Waste, Inefficiency and the Spoils of Military * The Political Economy of U.S. Military Spending * Limits of U.S. Militarism