...Tejuana Thomas – Module 11 – Short Essay The military-industrial complex is generally defined as a "coalition consisting of the military and industrialists who profit by manufacturing arms and selling them to the government." Many have long advocated for effective air and ground power as an element in our military force structure. However, many have argued the necessity; simply because of the costs that will occur. This result in a prevalent hesitation and the thought that the military industrial complex is building weapons that the military does not want. However, a great majority of the American people recognize the importance of maintaining air and ground superiority; especially when the lives of our friends, family and loved-ones are at stake. With the building of weapons by the Military Industrial Complex, the nature of a battle will be unlike anything the world has ever known. This has been exhibited in Afghanistan with a glimpse of the latest generation of high-tech weaponry. A major assault by combined American forces provided a full demonstration of the military's new doctrine of faster, lighter, smarter warfare. Combat in which cutting-edge technology became U.S. troops' deadliest weapon. The Pentagon called this new doctrine RMA, for "revolution in military affairs". The need for new technology to fight today’s wars, is a necessity for the United States; especially considering that we are battling countries that thrive off force and death...
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...Position on Military Industrial Complex Catalina M. Young Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy Abstract The “Military Industrial Complex” is a term coined by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This refers to the relationship between the nation’s armed forces and the industries that support them. Though its name came about in the 1960s, this relationship between armed forces and private industry dates back centuries. Recent legislation has been passed to help limit the power that this relationship has over defense spending. For any country, military spending is a big part of the national budget. Over time this business transaction has formed into a relationship between the nation’s armed forces and these private defense industries. In his farewell speech, President Eisenhower warned the country of this relationship. He named this relationship as the “military industrial complex.” The military industrial complex (MIC) is commonly applied to the United States’ expenditure in comparison to other nations. The MIC is most often referred to when the cost of military spending comes under scrutiny. How the military industrial complex works is that private companies give money to politicians during elections. Following this politicians then support military projects that will further the interests of these private companies. Then the military buys goods from these companies. This relationship can lead to corruption in the government. This has been happening in the United States...
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...“Military Industrial Complex”. What does this term mean, who coined the term and when? The Military Industrial Complex is generally defined as a coalition consisting of the military and industrialists who profit by manufacturing arms and selling them to the government. The Military Industrial Complex as coined by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address on 1961. Great and sustained spending for defense and war he warned created power groups that could disastrously harm the nation future. How is this concept related to Third World military regimes? Military Industrial Complex is very influential and resourceful and related to financial crisis at the time primarily affected developing nations negatively. The first modern MIC arose in Britain, France and Germany in the 1800s and 1890s as part of increasing need to defend their respective empires both on the ground and at sea. What roles do developed nations play in the arms business in Third World countries? Please think of present day examples. Developing countries are the main recipients of the arms sales. Developing nations continue to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales activity by weapons suppliers though most are arms are supplied by just 2 or 3 major supplier. In spite of our global economic climate major purchase has continue to be made by a select few developing nations in these regions such as India in Asia, and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. In the increasing of the...
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...Abstract The US has the largest defense market in the world, and in 2012 the US defense budget stood at US$645.7 billion. Expenditure is primarily driven by the modernization of existing weapon systems as well as the acquisition of advanced defense equipment capable of enhancing interoperability among the armed forces. Due to its high levels of military spending, a large number of opportunities are available to companies keen to supply the nation with defense equipment; however, pressure to reduce the debt burden after the US financial crisis has shown a negative impact on the government budget and caused cuts in defense budget as well. A side effect of the uncertainty and budget cuts in the U.S. is strong industry interest in international sales. Defense companies that have never worked abroad are now eyeing the international market as a way to diversify their sales and balance out volatility in the U.S. market. The Foreign U.S. Defense Industry: International Arms Sales Begin your paper with the introduction. The active voice, rather than passive voice, should be used in your writing. This template is formatted according to APA Style guidelines, with one inch top, bottom, left, and right margins; Times New Roman font in 12 point; double-spaced; aligned flush left; and paragraphs indented 5-7 spaces. The page number appears one inch from the right edge on the first line of each page, excluding the Figures page. U.S. Defense Industry Flees the Country Defense budgets peaked...
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...resources of vast bureaucratic organizations that have come to dominate industrial societies. According to Mills, the power elite are the key people in the three major institutions of modern society- military, economy and the government (Mills 1956). It is the elite that occupy these leadership positions within the bureaucracies. Although this theory was proposed in what may have been a simpler time, the structure of power in America remains very much the same, as does the close relationship between the military, corporate, and government elites. Mills placed the military as one of the triumvirate groups that comprised the power elite. The military has been elevated to a position of prestige and power and the present class of professional soldiers has had an impact that is far greater than just military affairs. In World War II, large corporations tied to the defense industry rose in power and influence and formed the origins of what President Eisenhower called the military industrial complex (Swanson). The war brought a bureaucratic centralization of power. In more recent times, the demands of foreign affairs, the dangers of potential adversaries, the sophistication and mystique of new weapons, and especially the development of the means of mass destruction have all given power to our highest military leaders (Reynolds). Corporations have also benefited because of the military. The growth of military spending in the United States in 2011 increased due to the war in Iraq (Weigley)...
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...1. Campaign Against Arms Trade, http://www.caat.org.uk/ 2. Lanka Business Online, http://www.lankabusinessonline.com, Question: Does arms trading help the world or hurt it? Give examples. As recently as The Iraq War, the ability to prosecute war depended on developing the industrial capacity to produce these "small arms." During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union provided conventional weapons for their respective client states fighting "proxy" wars. “The high-geared military-industrial economies of the two leviathans have stimulated France, China, Germany, the UK, Italy, Ukraine, and Israel to compete in the lucrative worldwide business of weapons export. In 2012 these nine weapons-selling countries exported $14.8 billion in conventional weapons to the rest of the world. Forty percent of this staggering volume of weapons flows from Russia; 27% is shipped from the USA” (1) “The USA, UK, and France earned more in small arms sales to developing countries in 1998-2001 than they gave in aid.”(2) The gigantism of this industry renders it a force in national economic policies. It is in the national interest of these nations, to some degree, to promote violent conflict and war around the world. As is apparent in the case of Sudan, the economic leverage of the weapons industry, including the small arms industry. Small arms trade plays a prominent role in the economies of nations at war, and particularly in intrastate conflicts. The availability of small arms...
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...Christopher Cordon Sociology 142 Friday 4- 4:50 P.M. 04-12-16 USC Village: What’s the Cost? Jack hammers, dump trucks, construction cranes and safety cones; all in a days work at USC’s new university village. We’ve all been somewhat affected by the recent demolition and construction in and around USC. Along with all the construction going on, traffic jams, detours as well as some of the noise going on, students such as myself aren’t the only ones affected. As beautiful and appealing as these renovations might seem, the price of a new beautiful new village does come at a cost to the residents, businesses and employees of the surrounding community. I was a member of this community as a young kid. I went to Vermont Ave. elementary just down the street form USC, and growing up, I did see a few changes here and there. Back in the early 90’s, the neighborhood had a completely different feel to it. There were gangs, drugs, and violence; typical for a South Los Angeles neighborhood. Over the years, USC’s presence started to change a few things. As students began to trickle over to the northwest neighborhoods, the tone of the neighborhood slowly changed. I was in elementary, so I didn’t really make much of it, only that a few of my friends from my block began moving away. As an 8 year old, you don’t really put two and two together until I started noticing the same thing in my new neighborhood in East Hollywood. Since it wasn’t a college neighborhood, there wasn’t a diverse group...
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...On January 17, 1961, Dwight D Eisenhower addressed the nation at the end of his term with a final speech titled, “Military-Industrial Complex Speech’. President Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States. Before his term two terms as president from 1953 to 1961, he was in the military during World War II, serving as a supreme commander of the Allied forces in Western Europe. In fact, Eisenhower was a key player in leading forces into Nazi populated Europe that began D-Day. Later on, during his presidency, Eisenhower had many achievements, such as, he supported the Civil Rights Bill in 1957, he structured the freeway system in the United States, he was instrumental in bringing the Korean War to an end, and most likely his greatest accomplishment was, he maintained peace for Americans. He bypassed war in several different instances throughout his term without weakening the United States stature. This speech was a given to the people of the United...
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...4. In what ways did World War II contribute to the growth of the federal government? How did it foster what historians now call the military-industrial complex? World War II majorly contributed to the growth of the federal government through the universal taxation of incomes to help fund the war, a huge military establishment, and multibillion-dollar budgets. All of these things more than likely would not have come about in the size that they did if World War II never started, although World War I did have a part in it also (Henretta 725). US Troop numbers during the war reached 12 million men and women required a huge number of resources in order to keep up with military demands. Some of these additional resources include but are not limited to housing, subsistence, clothing, medical care, training, and transportation, not to mention the special equipment, arms, ammunition, and expensive weapons platforms that now included tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft, and naval aircraft carriers (Higgs). World War II had cost the US government ten times that of what World War I did which is why the government levied so many new taxes. The government continued to raise income taxes to the point that income taxes went from 23 percent up to 94 percent as the "class tax" grew into a "mass tax". Even after the federal government was bringing $43 billion dollars more in revenue, they still had to finance a large portion of the war through borrowing. This large amount of borrowing from other...
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...How does Ted G. Goertzel claim C.W Mills’ s The Cause of World War III C. Wright Mills, who was a famous sociologist of America, claimed that a new world war is coming up and the cause of World War III is the military industrial complex. He states his opinion about new world war detailedly in his book The cause of World War III. In addition, we can know more about Mills’ s opinion about how does he regard the military industrial complex and the power elites. The Ted G. Goertzel clamed that Mills’ s opinion about new world war was wrong in his article The Cause of World War III, Thirty Years Later. However, Mills’ s opinion about new world war is partly right and partly wrong. It will be some local wars caused by the military industrial complex. But the nuclear wars will never happen between. Charles Wright Mills was born in 1916 and died in 1962. He was one of the famous sociologist at that time. Also, as a sociology professor at Columbia University, some of his works are remaining until nowadays, such as The Power Elite; White Collar; The Sociological Imagination. The Power Elite is about the class alliances in the U.S. Military; economy elite and political. The White Collar is an introduction of middle class in the U.S. He proposed the proper relationship in sociological scholarship between biography and history in the book named The Sociological Imagination. And this book was considered as the most influential book of Mills. He was so influential that The...
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...famously said in his farewell address, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex”, the American people have failed in regards to this warning. What is the military industrial complex? It is the cooperation between a government, its military, and the industries that supply weapons. Back in the time of the World Wars nations owned and operated their own weapon industries. Since the 60s the world has seen the rise of a military industrial complex. That is government’s give out contracts to a third party and they supply weapons for the governments military. The documentary, Why We Fight, gives us an insight to the United States own military-industrial complex rise over the past sixty years. It cites the fact that since the end of World War II the government has mislead the American people in order to fuel its...
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...Military Complex Kelvin Hugley Dr. Tanya Sharpe SOC 300 June 5, 2013 Military Industrial Complex is a phrase used to signify the relationship between government forces and defense-minded organizations. This union can produce benefits for both war planners receiving the tools necessary for waging an effective war while furthering political interest abroad while defense contractors are the recipients of lucrative deals.("What is military,") The term Military Industrial Complex was coined by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address in 1961. Great and sustained spending for defense and war he warned created powerful groups that could disastrously harm the nations future.(Turse, 03) Causing harm is exactly what they did. Third World countries would receive the assistance of developed countries with the financing of its wars and in return would have to grant certain privileges to the countries that aided them. Oftentimes giving over control of rich soil, marine ports and even governments. After many years these countries would have to negotiate for the rights of their own land. For example, the United States was able to gain control over the Philippine Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American war. America then placed military bases the aforementioned countries. Developing countries are the main recipients of the arms sales. Developing nations continue to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales activity by weapons suppliers...
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...When former president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address on January 17, 1961, he had been a general of the army and a hero of World War II. He was also a Supreme Commander of Allied Forces Europe, and for eight years the president of the United States. In his speech he warns every one of the nation’s developing military-industrial complex and the future of the nation if change wasn’t made. While Eisenhower discuss the military, author Michael Pollan warns every one of the dangers that can come from over eating corn and not having a healthy diet, in his book, The Omnivores Dilemma. It may seem that Eisenhower’s farewell address and Pollans book has nothing in common but they do. In their own way they both discuss overuse in oil and resources, government contracts, and misplaced or misused power....
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...American Military Technology Gary Smith MIL 311 American Military History II Instructor Trevor Albertson March 2, 2014 Introduction “Technology shapes the conduct of war in a tremendous way. It determines how wars are fought, how armies are organized and also many of the limitations they have,” according to Krishnan (2008, p. 1). The United States armed forces have seen many innovations in military technology that have helped project the United States as a global leader in politics and military matters. World War II was the catapult that launched the United States onto the world stage and began the shift of American armed forces swing towards advancing military technology to maintain the ability to politically have significance throughout the globe. American dominance of military technology has continued from World War II through modern times, with a significant focus towards the future and private sectors being the important key to maintaining that dominance. World War II Technology Advancements Starting with technology advancement during World War II, the U.S. Navy did not advance as strongly as other branches. Aircraft carriers came of age and dominated as the main focus of fleets, while submarines became incredible predators of the seas. The actual development of new ships was not really there, since the turn-around time of such an endeavor outweighed the benefits during wartime. However, the Navy did make strides in SONAR technology, which would...
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...US Military Strategy and objective We were warned about this by several great career military men, including Eisenhower: I think Eisenhower is a great president, but his farewell address (military industrial complex speech) is one of the most misquoted and misunderstood speeches. Here is the full text. Quotes from his speech: We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress,...
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