The Pit and the Pendulum: Domestic Politics of United States Military Policy
This essay provides a political analysis of the historical and geographical factors causing the pendulum-like swings of US military policies between an “expensive” posture involving intense weapons development and procurement and a “cheap” posture characterized by dependence on regional allies, covert operations, and greater reliance on threats. These shifts are not adequately explained by balance of power politics, by the concept of military-industrial complex or Neo-Marxist theory, and therefore must also be explained in terms of US domestic pressures arising from specific political and geographical constituencies favoring increased military spending. In looking at the fundamental changes necessary for the US to move toward a sustained effort at detente and disarmament, the author calls for the creation of a socialist party based on a labor farm coalition, which would be able to offer prosperity without dependence on defense procurement or world domination.