Warfare Welfare

`

Warfare Welfare

The Not-So-Hidden Costs of America's Permanent War Economy

Edited by Marcus G. Raskin and Gregory D. Squires
 

288 pages

Hardcover

April 2012

978-1-59797-532-2

$65.00 Add to Cart
Paperback

March 2012

978-1-59797-533-9

$32.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

April 2012

978-1-59797-570-4

$32.95 Add to Cart
about author bio praise table of contents media awards

About the Book

This edited volume reveals how a permanent war economy has made the United States unable to spread democracy abroad and has worsened domestic problems. The editors draw from classical readings in political theory, from primary documents (including key court decisions), and from social science research to analyze such issues as the effect of militarization and combativeness on the everyday lives of Americans. The editors also address the dire connection among banking losses, the housing recession, the welfare/national security state, and the challenge of rebuilding America’s infrastructure.

Raskin and Squires ultimately conclude that only by making war an unattractive option and dismantling the warfare system can meaningful progress be made on the current foreign and domestic challenges facing the United States. They also offer steps to replace the warfare system, outlining the ideological and material transformations necessary for peace.

Students of political science, sociology, history, and law will find this a thought-provoking, forward-thinking contribution concerning America’s future at home and abroad.

Author Bio

MARCUS G. RASKIN is a professor at the School of Public Policy at the George Washington University and founder of the Institute of Policy Studies. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than twenty books, including The Four Freedoms Under Siege: The Clear and Present Danger from Our National Security State (Potomac Books, 2009). He lives in Washington, D.C.

Praise

“Marcus Raskin has long been one of the most astute participant-observers on the American—nay, the global—scene. Read this collection if you want to know how to think about the national security state and what’s going on.”—Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus, The Nation; chair, Columbia Journalism Review; and George T. Delacorte Professor in Magazine Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

“Raskin and Squires have done us all—not only scholars and students but the citizenry as a whole—a large pedagogic service. By argument and textual example, they demonstrate that today’s criticism of American empire, and the struggle against its baleful consequences, are direct and legitimate legacies of much of our entire democratic tradition.”—Norman Birnbaum, professor emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center

“Marc Raskin, one of the bravest of our great thinkers, says obvious things almost with a shrug—even when too many others are afraid to take the risk. Who else would write so casually that “war is the normal state of affairs” for the United States? But even as he skewers the pretexts for those wars—‘spreading freedom abroad’ and ‘making the world safe for democracy’—we continue to look to him to spread real freedom, here and abroad, and through his wisdom to help make our world really safer for real democracy.”—Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies

Also of Interest

The Four Freedoms Under Siege

Marcus Raskin and Robert Spero
​Foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich