The Civilization of Military-Industrial Complex in Post-Cold War World or: Military-Industrial Complex as the Socialist Institution

1997 ◽  
pp. 151-191
Author(s):  
Igor Grazin
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Military Industrial Complex

American Culture and the (Permanent, Global) Cold War (on Terror)

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-364
Author(s):  
Jonathan Vincent
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
American Culture ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Global Cold War ◽  
Structural Adaptations

Abstract This review-essay considers recent scholarly work that, in contrast to our understanding of the Cold War’s demise 30 years ago, examines the lingering practices of permanent militarization that have nonetheless continued to flourish. Focusing especially on the cultural habits that normalize permanent war—a necessary supplement since the Cold War’s justifying logics no longer adhere—they together enlarge a picture of the dyadic or double-jointed projects of a transforming military–industrial complex occurring at all manner of points internationally as well as in a range of locales internal to US life, and in ways that are structurally linked. At the heart of that critique is disclosing the way that the adapting discourses of a liberalizing American state downplay and reframe the older, more overt rhetorics of colonialism and imperialism while nonetheless retaining similar expansionist and disciplinary goals. Using the literary and cultural record of those structural adaptations, they document how the twin arms of that coordinated state power worked relentlessly to manage “neocolonial” interventions across the globe, well into the “forever wars” of our own time, as well as, simultaneously, to interfere in and subdue the civil right movement or prosecute the War on Drugs domestically.

The Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Cold War–Era Defense Procurement: A Challenge to Military-Industrial Complex Theory

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Gholz
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Defense Procurement ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Defense Contractor ◽  
Strategic Perspective

The extraordinary year-to-year continuity in the list of top Cold War aerospace suppliers has led many analysts to adopt theories of a military-industrial complex (MIC). The collapse of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, once the second-largest manufacturer in the United States and a leading defense contractor, belies their approach. This article recounts the histories of Curtiss-Wright's three independent divisions and uses these to test the MIC theory against three other explanations of the pattern of Cold War defense procurement: the technological imperative, the bureaucratic-strategic perspective, and free-market competition. The bureaucratic-strategic theory is most consistent with the case-study evidence.

Piecing together the peace dividend: Managing change in communities dependent on defence expenditure

1992 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Roe
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Managing Change ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Peace Dividend ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military ◽  
Defence Expenditure

Summary To date governments have been slow to appreciate that, as well as a peace dividend, arms reduction will bring social and economic hardship to communities which have relied upon defence expenditure for employment. Conversion of military bases, let alone restructuring of defence industries, cannot be left to market forces to achieve; government intervention is required to ensure the successful adjustment of communities. During the Cold War, the dominance of the “military-industrial complex” spread the notion that disarmament would threaten not only security, but jobs. Current geopolitical changes present an opportunity to challenge this argument. Local employment initiatives are essential to prevent defence cuts from causing unemployment.

scholarly journals Playing the Past and Alternative Futures: Counterfactual History in Fallout 4

Loading ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 15-34
Author(s):  
Samuel McCready
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Interactive Narrative ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Alternative Futures ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
The Past ◽  
Counterfactual History ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Static Nature

This article explores representations of history and history for the present in Fallout 4 to illuminate how the gameworld makes clever use of common historical tropes and aesthetics, as well as the genre of the counterfactual in its presentation of a compelling and interactive narrative. Set in the post-apocalyptic landscape of Massachusetts, Fallout 4 employs various sites of historical Massachusetts (Concord, Lexington, Boston) in order to draw the user into the story of the ‘lone survivor,’ the avatar that he or she takes control of. This analysis is interested in the ways that Fallout 4 employs history and the genre of the counterfactual in the production of a compelling narrative that not only invites but impels the player into action to chart a new course for this devastated virtual landscape. The power of counterfactual history lies in its capacity to unravel assumptions about the static nature of historical events, and in its denial of a linear trajectory of history broadly. In the case of Fallout 4, the implementation of a counterfactual story, wherein the nuclear event that shrouded the Cold War period in uncertainty, takes place. It serves as a rejection of the popularly rehearsed narrative of American supremacy triumphing over Communist forces to present the player with a more nuanced interpretation of some of the internal and external tensions that came to define the Cold War period (i.e. cultural malaise, economic instability, the growth of a military-industrial complex). This conflicting presentation of histories both real and imagined provides an opportunity for the player to experience and interact with the game critically as a counterfactual reimagining of the Cold War era. Viewed in this way, the virtual world of Fallout 4 becomes a space where the player can reassess their own understanding of the period, and the nature of historical knowledge production more broadly.

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