State of War: The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1945–2011 by Paul A. C. Koistinen (review)

Paul A. C. Koistinen’s book, State of War, is the last in a five-volume study of the political economy of American warfare. The goal of his multivolume project was to “provide scholars and other researchers with … a comprehensive, analytical, and interdisciplinary study of the economics of America’s wars from the colonial period to today” (p. 1). Koistinen argues that his work demonstrates “how the political economy of warfare impacts domestic life and foreign policy and what economic mobilization for defense and war reveals about the nature and operations of power within society” (p. 1).

In the current volume, Koistinen, a professor emeritus of history at California State University, Northridge, argues that the current system of procuring and sustaining the national security establishment of the United States—including DOD, DOE, NASA, and the intelligence agencies—is destructive to the nation and our democracy, is causing America’s decline, and is actually creating insecurity because of the lack of readiness of existing military systems and diminished funds for training and adequate numbers of forces. Koistinen argues that the “military industrial complex” (MIC), and now private military companies (PMC), that so worried President Eisenhower have come to dominate the American conduct of war and peace, and influence almost every aspect of American life. He writes that “a massive Cold War military and a powerful private defense industry have accumulated vast influence and power that directly affects practically every area of foreign and domestic life” (p. 7). In his view, the United States has become “a warfare or national security state.” Koistinen believes that substantial reforms from without are necessary to stop the decline. He writes, “For decades, the armed services have drained America’s human and physical resources without any positive return and have had a destructive effect on the nation’s economic, political, and social system. Until DOD spending is brought under control, the United States has no prospect of regeneration and faces continuing economic decline” (p. 217).

In recent years, a number of books have come out sounding the alarm of the growing power of private military companies to influence U.S. foreign, military, and domestic policies. See, for example, Peter W. Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (2003); Dina Rasor and Robert Bauman, Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War (2007); Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010); and Ann Hagedorn, The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced our Security (2014), to identify just a few works in this growing body of literature. It is estimated that the decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately cost the American people more than 3 trillion dollars. Large portions of this money went to private military firms. With the causes, conduct, and outcome of the wars still in doubt, and the subject of considerable debate, the cost and uses of congressionally legislated funds is a necessary discussion for the nation to have.

Koistinen’s book is organized into nine chapters: “The Presidency,” with subsections devoted to each president from Truman to Bush Jr.; “Congress”; “A Big Military”; “The Defense Industry”; “Big Science”; “Other Estates”; “Weapons”; “National Security and the Economy”; and “Political Economy of the Cold War.” Koistinen’s analytical paradigm consists of four major elements: (1) the American economy (industrial and financial), (2) the federal government (particularly the expanded powers of the executive branch), (3) civil–military relations (explaining the growing power of the military during the Cold War), and (4) sophisticated weapons systems (made possible by “Big Science” and America’s universities). The most important chapter is “National Security and the Economy,” in which Koistinen writes, “With multiple trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of contractors and subcontractors involved throughout the nation, the effect on the economy is destructive.” Koistinen’s book is based primarily on secondary sources...