Military-Political-Industrial Nexus

The often hidden connections between state, corporate, and military actors, and their roles in determining social development, have long been concerns within modern industrial societies. These alliances involve circuits of contracts, finances, resources, and personnel between institutions, including those of state representatives, defense contractors, arms manufacturers, and military leadership. These networks are typically informal and operate behind the scenes through personal relationships, lobbying efforts, campaign work, and professional associations. Thus, they raise important questions about the real nature of decision making, and the distribution and structure of power within contemporary liberal democracies. This nexus of power holders has been called the military-industrial complex.

Contemporary military machinery, highly mechanized and integrated with computerized information technology systems, has required new regimes of production and capital accumulation. Militarization extends ...