War economy

War economy

War economy is the term used to describe the contingencies undertaken by the modern state to mobilise its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilising and allocating resources to sustain the violence". The war economy can form an economic system termed the "military-industrial complex". 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." [ [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speechesfdrarsenalofdemocracy.html] Dead link|date=March 2008]

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.

Further reading

*Appadurai, Arjun. (1991). "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy". in M. Featherstone (ed.) "Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalisation and Modernity". London: Sage. 295 - 310.
*Franklin, Sarah, Lury, Celia & Stacey, Jackie. (2000)." Global nature/global culture". London: SAGE.
*Giddens, Anthony. (2002). "Runaway World: How Globalisation is Shaping Our Lives" (New Edition). London: Profile. 6 - 19.
*Goldstein, Joshua S. (2001). "War and gender: How gender shapes the war system and vice versa". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Moeller, Susan. (1999). "Compassion Fatigue", "Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sells Disease, Famine, War and Death". New York & London: Routledge. 6 - 53.
*Paolini, Albert. (1997). "Globalisation" in P. Darby (ed.) "At the Edge of International Relations: Postcolonialism, Gender and Dependency". London & New York: Pinter. 33 -60.

References

ee also

* Wartime communism


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • War Economy — The organization of a country s production capacity and distribution during a time of conflict. A war economy must make substantial adjustments to its consumer production in order to accommodate defense production. Governments must choose how to… …   Investment dictionary

  • Permanent war economy — The concept of permanent war economy originated in 1944 with an article by Ed Sard (alias Frank Demby, Walter S. Oakes and T.N. Vance; he was a Trotskyist from the 1930s) who predicted a post war arms race. He argued at the time that the USA… …   Wikipedia

  • Economy of Ethiopia — Currency Birr (ETB) Fiscal year 8 July 7 July Trade organisations AU, WTO (observer) Statistics …   Wikipedia

  • War in Europe (game) — War in Europe is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1976. It was an expansion of a previously published wargame, War in the East . In order to allow players to focus on the war in western Europe and North Africa …   Wikipedia

  • Economy of Nazi Germany — World War I and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles with its severe reparations imposed on Germany led to a decade of economic woes, including hyperinflation in the mid 1920s. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the German economy, like many …   Wikipedia

  • Economy car — An economy car is an automobile that is designed for low cost operation. They are designed for drivers who use their car primarily for personal transportation. The best of these cars are not merely cheapened or miniaturised versions of a… …   Wikipedia

  • Economy of Estonia — Estonia is a member of the European Union and a developed market economy.Before the Second World War Estonia s economy was based on agriculture, but there was a significant knowledge sector (with Tartu known for scientific contributions) and… …   Wikipedia

  • economy — Synonyms and related words: GNP, barter economy, brevity, briefness, budget, capitalistic economy, carefulness, cheap, cheeseparing, collectivized economy, compactness, conciseness, concision, conservation, conservatism, consumer economy, control …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Economy of the United States — Economy of United States Rank 1st (nominal) / 1st (PPP) Currency US$ (USD) …   Wikipedia

  • Economy of North Korea — Economic centre of North Korea Currency North Korean won Fiscal year …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”