The American warfare state : the domestic politics of military spending / Rebecca U. Thorpe.
2014
KF7252 .T46 2014 (Mapit)
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Details
Author
Title
The American warfare state : the domestic politics of military spending / Rebecca U. Thorpe.
Imprint
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Description
xi, 245 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
Series
Chicago series on international and domestic institutions.
Chicago studies in American politics.
Chicago studies in American politics.
Formatted Contents Note
Theoretical and historical overview : Introduction : Perpetuating the US military economy
Presidential war powers in historical perspective
World War II and the politics of defense spending : World War II military mobilization: origins of the rural defense pork barrel
From shared sacrifice to local subsidy: dispersing defense benefits and externalizing war costs
Local defense dependence and congressional weapons spending
The distributive politics of defense contracting
You and whose army?: Expansive presidential war powers
Economic reliance and war
Executive independence in military affairs
Conclusion : The warfare state.
Presidential war powers in historical perspective
World War II and the politics of defense spending : World War II military mobilization: origins of the rural defense pork barrel
From shared sacrifice to local subsidy: dispersing defense benefits and externalizing war costs
Local defense dependence and congressional weapons spending
The distributive politics of defense contracting
You and whose army?: Expansive presidential war powers
Economic reliance and war
Executive independence in military affairs
Conclusion : The warfare state.
Summary
"In The American Warfare State, Rebecca U. Thorpe argues that there are profound relationships among the size and persistence of the American military complex, the growth in presidential power to launch military actions, and the decline of congressional willingness to check this power. The public costs of military mobilization and war, including the need for conscription and higher tax rates, served as political constraints on warfare for most of American history. But the vast defense industry that emerged from World War II also created new political interests that the framers of the Constitution did not anticipate. Many rural and semirural areas became economically reliant on defense-sector jobs and capital, which gave the legislators representing them powerful incentives to press for ongoing defense spending regardless of national security circumstances or goals. At the same time, the costs of war are now borne overwhelmingly by a minority of soldiers who volunteer to fight, future generations of taxpayers, and foreign populations in whose lands wars often take place. Drawing on an impressive cache of data, Thorpe reveals how this new incentive structure has profoundly reshaped the balance of wartime powers between Congress and the president, resulting in a defense industry perennially poised for war and an executive branch that enjoys unprecedented discretion to take military action."--Publisher's Web site.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-229) and index.
Call Number
KF7252 .T46 2014
Language
English
ISBN
9780226123912 (cloth ; alkaline paper)
022612391X (cloth ; alkaline paper)
9780226124070 (paperback ; alkaline paper)
022612407X (paperback ; alkaline paper)
9780226124100 (e-book)
022612391X (cloth ; alkaline paper)
9780226124070 (paperback ; alkaline paper)
022612407X (paperback ; alkaline paper)
9780226124100 (e-book)
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