The British military-industrial complex in history: The importance of political economy

David Edgerton ()
Additional contact information
David Edgerton: Imperial College, London

Economics of Peace and Security Journal, 2008, vol. 3, issue 1, 6-10

Abstract: This article highlights the until quite recently neglected political-economic thinking in matters of defense in twentieth-century Britain. It argues that retrieving such analyses from the interwar years is an excellent although partial way to get at an alternative picture of interwar defense spending and the arms industry. Interestingly, the political-economic approach fell out of favor in the nuclear age, but became central from the 1970s in critical discussion of British militarism. Yet that political-economic view was limited in that in made important assumptions about the civilian origins and nature of modern war. The article challenges these assumptions, noting the military origins and nature of most military technologies, and indeed of many civilian technologies, too.

Keywords: Peace; security; military-industrial complex; United Kingdom (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 H56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.epsjournal.org.uk/index.php/EPSJ/article/view/60 (application/pdf)
Open access 24 months after original publication.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epc:journl:v:3:y:2008:i:1:p:6-10

Access Statistics for this article

Economics of Peace and Security Journal is currently edited by Michael Brown and J Paul Dunne

More articles in Economics of Peace and Security Journal from EPS Publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael Brown, Managing Editor, EPSJ ().