War economy
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| - | '''''The Power Elite''''' is a book written by [[sociologist]] [[C. Wright Mills]] in 1956. In it Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the [[military]], [[corporate]], and [[political]] elements of [[society]] and suggests that the ordinary [[citizen]] is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those entities. The structural basis of ''The Power Elite'' is that, following [[World War II]], the United States was the leading country in military and economic terms. According to Mills, the Power Elite are those that occupy the dominant positions, in the dominant institutions (military, economic and political) of a dominant country, and their decisions (or lack of decisions) have enormous consequences, not only for the U.S. population but, "the underlying populations of the world." Mills outlines the historical structural trends that led to the ascension of the power elite as involving a concentration of economic power and the cultural apparatus in the hands of a few, the emergence of a permanent [[war economy]] in the U.S. during and after WW2, the emergence of a bureaucratically standardized and conditioned (controlled) mass society and a political vacuum that was filled by economic and military elites. Due to the interchangeability of top positions within these three institutions, the members of the power elite develop class consciousness and a community of interests guided by a militarized culture, or what Mills described as the military metaphysic. | ||
| - | The book is something of a counterpart of Mills' 1951 work, ''[[White Collar: The American Middle Classes]]'', which examines the then-growing role of [[Middle management|middle managers]] in American society. A main inspiration for the book was [[Franz Leopold Neumann]]'s book ''[[Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism]]'' in 1942, a study of how Nazism came into a position of power in a democratic state like Germany. ''Behemoth'' had a major impact on Mills and he claimed that Behemoth had given him the "tools to grasp and analyse the entire total structure and as a warning of what could happen in a modern capitalist democracy". | + | A '''war economy''' is the set of contingencies undertaken by a modern [[State (polity)|state]] to mobilize its [[economy]] for war production. [[Philippe Le Billon]] describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain the violence." Some measures taken include the increasing of tax rates as well as the introduction of resource allocation programs. Needless to say, every country approaches the reconfiguration of its economy in a different way. |
| - | ==See also== | + | Many states increase the degree of [[planned economy|planning]] in their economies during wars; in many cases this extends to [[rationing]], and in some cases to [[conscription]] for civil purposes, such as the [[Women's Land Army]] and [[Bevin Boys]] in the [[United Kingdom]] in [[World War II]]. |
| - | *[[Power (social and political)]] | + | |
| - | *[[Military-industrial complex]] | + | |
| - | *[[Elite]] | + | |
| - | *[[Elite capture]] | + | |
| - | *[[Sociological imagination]] | + | |
| - | *[[The Sociological Imagination]] | + | |
| - | *[[New Left]] | + | |
| - | *[[Social alienation]] | + | |
| - | *[[Mass society]] | + | |
| - | *[[Elite theory]] | + | |
| - | *[[White Collar: The American Middle Classes]] | + | |
| - | *[[Iron law of oligarchy]] | + | |
| + | Franklin D. Roosevelt said that if the Axis Powers win, then "we would have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy." | ||
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| + | In what is known as [[total war]], these economies are often seen as targets by many militaries. The [[Union blockade]] during the [[American Civil War]] is regarded as one of the first examples of this. | ||
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| + | Concerning the side of [[aggregate demand]], this concept has been linked to the concept of "[[military Keynesianism]]", in which the government's [[military budget]] stabilizes [[business cycle]]s and fluctuations and/or is used to fight [[recession]]s. | ||
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| + | On the [[supply (economics)|supply]] side, it has been observed that wars sometimes have the effect of accelerating [[technological progress|progress of technology]] to such an extent that an economy is greatly strengthened after the war, especially if it has avoided the war-related destruction. This was the case, for example, with the [[United States]] in [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. Some economists (such as [[Seymour Melman]]) argue, however, that the wasteful nature of much of military spending eventually can hurt technological progress. | ||
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| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[Economic warfare]] | ||
| + | * [[Industrial warfare]] | ||
| + | * [[Military-industrial complex]] | ||
| + | * [[Total war]] | ||
| + | * [[War communism]] | ||
| + | * [[War effort]] | ||
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A war economy is the set of contingencies undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain the violence." Some measures taken include the increasing of tax rates as well as the introduction of resource allocation programs. Needless to say, every country approaches the reconfiguration of its economy in a different way.
Many states increase the degree of planning in their economies during wars; in many cases this extends to rationing, and in some cases to conscription for civil purposes, such as the Women's Land Army and Bevin Boys in the United Kingdom in World War II.
Franklin D. Roosevelt said that if the Axis Powers win, then "we would have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy."
In what is known as total war, these economies are often seen as targets by many militaries. The Union blockade during the American Civil War is regarded as one of the first examples of this.
Concerning the side of aggregate demand, this concept has been linked to the concept of "military Keynesianism", in which the government's military budget stabilizes business cycles and fluctuations and/or is used to fight recessions.
On the supply side, it has been observed that wars sometimes have the effect of accelerating progress of technology to such an extent that an economy is greatly strengthened after the war, especially if it has avoided the war-related destruction. This was the case, for example, with the United States in World War I and World War II. Some economists (such as Seymour Melman) argue, however, that the wasteful nature of much of military spending eventually can hurt technological progress.
See also
