Introduction

Personal Rights ◽

Democratic Control ◽

Alliance Partners ◽

Distribution Of Power ◽

The Military ◽

Back Office ◽

There are many ways of thinking about guns. Guns can be seen through the lens of gender or identity, as a matter of personal rights or from the perspective of the engineer interested in design features and standardization. This book considers firearms from the perspective of military innovation and seeks to map socio-technical change from the battlefield to the back-office: from soldiers and engineers to scientists and bureaucrats, from alliance partners to industry. In the process this book describes the distribution of power within the military industrial complex and asks us to reflect on the relationship between technology and strategy and democratic control over weapon selection.

Weapon of Choice

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190623869.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Ford

Keyword(s):

Industrial Complex ◽

Military Innovation ◽

Small Arms ◽

Alliance Partner ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Advanced Technologies ◽

The Military ◽

Back Office ◽

Purchasing Policy

This book examines Western military technological innovation through the lens of developments in small arms during the twentieth century. These weapons have existed for centuries, appear to have matured only incrementally and might seem unlikely technologies for investigating the trajectory of military–technical change. Their relative simplicity, however, makes it easy to use them to map patterns of innovation within the military–industrial complex. Advanced technologies may have captured the military imagination, offering the possibility of clean and decisive outcomes, but it is the low technologies of the infantryman that can help us develop an appreciation for the dynamics of change. Tracing the path of innovation from battlefield to back office, and from industry to alliance partner, Ford develops insights into the way that small arms are socially constructed. He thereby exposes the mechanics of power across the military–industrial complex. This in turn reveals that shifting power relations between soldiers and scientists, bureaucrats and engineers, have allowed the private sector to exploit infantry status anxiety and shape soldier weapon preferences. Ford's analysis allows us to draw wider conclusions about how military innovation works and what social factors frame Western military purchasing policy, from small arms to more sophisticated and expensive weapons.

From the Mundane to the Sophisticated

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190623869.003.0009 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Ford

Keyword(s):

Technical Change ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Strategic Choices ◽

Multiple Contexts ◽

Different Dimensions ◽

Distribution Of Power ◽

The Military ◽

Sophisticated Technology

This chapter asks whether it is possible to draw analogies between mundane and sophisticated technology. The previous chapters have explored different dimensions of innovation across multiple contexts. The conclusion drawn here is that future investigations into innovation will also need to consider the range of contexts and actors engaged in more sophisticated socio–technical change if we are to properly understand the distribution of power across the military–industrial complex. Only by making this effort will we be able to expose the countervailing interests that make up the process of weapon selection and, as a result, develop more democratically accountable strategic choices.

An Organizational Perspective on the Military-Industrial Complex

The Business History Review ◽

10.2307/3113037 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 250-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Robert D. Cuff

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

The United States ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

World War ◽

Goods And Services ◽

Private And Public ◽

The Military ◽

Future Work ◽

Is there a “military-industrial complex” in the United States? What is the relationship between business, government, and the military with its needs for vast quantities of goods and services? How has organization for war and defense changed since the demands of World War I first made such questions important? How much do we know about what actually happened between World War I and Vietnam to change the relationship between private and public organizations? Professor Cuff discusses the complexities involved in trying to answer such historical questions, and prescribes a professional historian's regimen for future work on this subject.

Eisenhower versus the Spin-off Story: Did the Rise of the Military–Industrial Complex Hurt or Help America's Commercial Aircraft Industry?

Enterprise & Society ◽

10.1017/s1467222700009733 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 46-95

Author(s):

Eugene Gholz

Keyword(s):

High Tech ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Commercial Aircraft ◽

Commercial Markets ◽

American Research ◽

Contemporary Development ◽

The Military ◽

The Relationship ◽

Benefits And Costs

In his Farewell Address, President Eisenhower warned that the military-industrial complex (MIC) threatened to dominate American research, crowding out commercial innovation. Ironically, a number of analysts point to spin-off benefits of the 1950s' military effort as a crucial source of American high-tech competitiveness, often citing the key example of the relationship between military jet aircraft and the Boeing's 707. But the huge military investment in jet aviation had both benefits and costs for the commercial industry. This article compares the development of the Boeing 707 and its relationship to military projects like the KC-135 tanker to the contemporary development of commercial jet aircraft by other companies that were also integral parts of the military-industrial complex (MIC), including Douglas Aircraft and its commercial DC-8 and Convair and its commercial 880 and 990. Using evidence from archives, interviews with retired company executives, contemporary trade press, and academic studies, the article concludes that membership in the MIC did not offer firms a leg up in commercial markets. President Eisenhower was generally right about the costs of the military effort, but military spending remained low enough to allow commercial industry to thrive in parallel to the defense industry.

The Surveillant Simulation of War: Entertainment and Surveillance in the 21st Century

Surveillance & Society ◽

10.24908/ss.v8i4.4190 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 517-522

Author(s):

Matthew Cousineau

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

21St Century ◽

Video Game ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Surveillance Studies ◽

Future Direction ◽

Sports Broadcasting ◽

The Military ◽

This paper pulls together some strands in Surveillance Studies to make a case for the analytical advantages of a future direction. Conceptualizing surveillance as entertainment helps sensitize Surveillance Studies to emerging patterns of surveillance in the relationship between the military-industrial complex and entertainment. I describe four examples of this, which include both video game simulations of surveillance as well as actual military surveillance technologies and practices. Army developed video games and simulators designed to recruit, along with unmanned aerial vehicles and sports broadcasting technologies provide contemporary examples of the blurring boundaries between civilians and soldiers, war and entertainment, and work and play. Focusing on surveillance as entertainment, I suggest, furnishes us with several analytical advantages that help make sense of the complex global surveillance realities of the 21st century.

Canadian Entrepreneurs and the Preservation of the Capitalist Peace in the North Atlantic Triangle in the Civil War Era, 1861–1871

Enterprise & Society ◽

10.1017/eso.2015.80 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 515-545

Author(s):

ANDREW D. SMITH ◽

LAURENCE B. MUSSIO

Keyword(s):

Industrial Complex ◽

Ceteris Paribus ◽

Economic Interests ◽

The North ◽

Transnational Community ◽

Civil War Era ◽

The Military ◽

In their 2013 bookReimagining Business History, Philip Scranton and Patrick Fridenson called on business historians to reassess militarization and the “two-way exchanges” between the military and the private sector. The call is timely. The extensive business-historical scholarship on the relationship between companies and war sensibly focuses on companies that profited from their involvement in the military-industrial complex.1The business-historical literature is virtually silent, however, on the role of business in preventing wars from starting in the first place. In other words, business historians have missed a productive opportunity to engage with capitalist peace theory (CPT), an increasingly important theory in the discipline of international relations (IR). Many IR scholars now argue that the mutual economic interdependence characteristic of global capitalism reduces the likelihood of war. Their research suggests that while extensive cross-border economic linkages do not preclude the possibility of war, the creation of a transnational community of economic interests tends,ceteris paribus, to reduce the frequency, duration, and intensity of warfare.2

Technology and Culture

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190623869.003.0002 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Ford

Keyword(s):

Technical Change ◽

Science And Technology Studies ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Military Innovation ◽

Top Down ◽

Technology And Culture ◽

The Military

The prevailing assumption for many writers working on technology and change is that victory in war belongs to the masters of military innovation. If armed forces fail to act on this single insight then defeat in battle is all but certain. This chapter will discuss the various frameworks for helping to explain military innovation and conclude that existing top-down and bottom-up models of socio-technical change are insufficient. In its place this chapter outlines a mode of thinking about military innovation that draws on Science and Technology Studies. This in turn creates an opportunity for thinking about how power across the military-industrial complex is distributed.

Planning and Profits

10.5949/liverpool/9781786940667.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Christopher Miller

Keyword(s):

Industrial Complex ◽

Private Industry ◽

Fixed Prices ◽

Government Organisation ◽

British State ◽

The Military ◽

The Impact ◽

In a time of great need for Britain, a small coterie of influential businessmen gained access to secret information on industrial mobilisation as advisers to the Principal Supply Officers Committee. They provided the state with priceless advice, but, as “insiders” utilised their access to information to build a business empire at a fraction of the normal costs. Outsiders, in contrast, lacked influence and were forced together into a defensive “ring” – or cartel – which effectively fixed prices for British warships. By the 1930s, the cartel grew into one of the most sophisticated profiteering groups of its day. This book examines the relationship between the private naval armaments industry, businessmen, and the British government defence planners between the wars. It reassesses the concept of the military-industrial complex through the impact of disarmament upon private industry, the role of leading industrialists in supply and procurement policy, and the successes and failings of government organisation. It blends together political, naval, and business history in new ways, and, by situating the business activities of industrialists alongside their work as government advisors, sheds new light on the operation of the British state. This is the story of how these men profited while effectively saving the National Government from itself.

The aspects of the innovation of the military-industrial complex and its significance for the national security of Russia

Sociopolitical sciences ◽

10.33693/2223-0092-2020-10-1-15-20 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 15-20

Author(s):

Irina Orlova ◽

Artem Sukharev ◽

Maria Sukhareva ◽

Mikhail Deikun

Keyword(s):

National Security ◽

Systematic Approach ◽

Defense Industry ◽

World Market ◽

Modern World ◽

High Tech ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

The Russian Federation ◽

The Military

The main objective of the article is to substantiate a systematic approach to the introduction of all types of innovations in the development of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that in the modern world it is especially important to ensure the national security of the country and the defense industry plays a crucial role in this. At the same time, one cannot but note the importance of the defense industry in the production of high-tech civilian products and dual-use products, which enhances the country's competitiveness in the world market. In addition, the relevance of the topic is due to the presence of rather serious problems in the Russian defense industry, which require immediate resolution. The article uses the methodology of structurally functional analysis, the institutional approach and the method of comparative assessments. The authors conclude that technological innovation alone will not be able to achieve strategic results for ensuring national security, only in conjunction with organizational, product, social and marketing innovations, the domestic defense industry is able to solve its tasks.

Cinema's Military Industrial Complex

10.1525/california/9780520291508.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

World War I ◽

Mobile Technologies ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

World War ◽

Film Exhibition ◽

Record Keeping ◽

The Military

Cinema’s Military Industrial Complex examines how the American military has used cinema and related visual, sonic, and mobile technologies to further its varied aims. The essays in this book address the way cinema was put to work for purposes of training, orientation, record keeping, internal and external communication, propaganda, research and development, tactical analysis, surveillance, physical and mental health, recreation, and morale. The contributors examine the technologies and types of films that were produced and used in collaboration among the military, film industry, and technology manufacturers. The essays also explore the goals of the American state, which deployed the military and its unique modes of filmmaking, film exhibition, and film viewing to various ends. Together, the essays reveal the military’s deep investment in cinema, which began around World War I, expanded during World War II, continued during the Cold War (including wars in Korea and Vietnam), and still continues in the ongoing War on Terror.