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1 – 10 of over 10000The goal of this chapter is to reexamine the nature and structure of the military–industrial complex (MIC) through the works of John Kenneth Galbraith. MIC, or military power as…
Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to reexamine the nature and structure of the military–industrial complex (MIC) through the works of John Kenneth Galbraith. MIC, or military power as he prefers, is a coalition of vested interests within the state and industry that promoted the military power in the name of “national security” for their interests. Galbraith’s theory of giant corporations helps us understand the role of military corporations in the MIC. Moreover, he is a critical scholar in examining this topic because he was a political insider in the Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations and a prominent public intellectual against the Vietnam War. Against this background, this chapter has three parts. After explaining the development of military Keynesianism with respect to the main economic thoughts, it examines the history of the MIC and its impact on economic priorities during and after the Cold War through Galbraith’s works. Finally, this chapter discusses MIC’s relevancy today and evaluates Galbraith’s prophecies.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between independent director military service and monitoring effectiveness, focusing on chief executive officer (CEO…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between independent director military service and monitoring effectiveness, focusing on chief executive officer (CEO) compensation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors identify independent directors with military experience using BoardEx data. The authors focus on the level of CEO compensation. The methods used include panel data estimation, propensity score matching analysis and instrumental variable analysis.
Findings
The authors find more powerful CEOs are more likely to appoint independent directors with past military service to the board. Boards with a larger proportion of independent directors with military experience tend to award higher levels of CEO compensation. Moreover, the positive relationship between independent directors with military experience and executive compensation is stronger when the CEO is more powerful.
Originality/value
This paper examines a relatively unexplored director background, directors with military experience, and finds this type of independent director is associated with weak monitoring. The authors contribute to the literature examining the effect of executive and board member military experience on corporations. The authors identify weak monitoring of powerful CEOs as a potential weakness of directors with military experience. This drawback should be considered before appointing a director with military experience to the board.
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This paper aims to raise awareness and the level of debate on a significant new development in international law.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to raise awareness and the level of debate on a significant new development in international law.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a historical overview in considering current approaches to the phenomenon of private military corporations (PMCs) and uses case examples to discuss the issues raised.
Findings
The paper concludes that the phenomenon raises many issues that need further analysis, such as the outcome of this phenomenon on the future of democracy in sovereign states.
Research limitations/implications
The topic allows for much further research into such matters as definitional, jurisdictional and enforceability issues with regard to corporate entities known as PMCs.
Practical implications
For peace and human rights to prevail in democracies in which the state maintains the monopoly on the use of force, the paper argues that PMCs should be prohibited rather than subjected to mere regulation.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to use the term “preyfits” in describing the actions of transnational corporations. While most scholars argue for regulation of PMCs, this paper argues for their total prohibition.
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This paper focuses on the challenges facing global corporations which operate in a variety of environments with increasing multicultural managements and sophisticated…
Abstract
This paper focuses on the challenges facing global corporations which operate in a variety of environments with increasing multicultural managements and sophisticated understanding of how information technologies and organizational astuteness promote success. Compares this environment with that of the British East India Company. Suggests that corporations operating in the unpredictable environments at the start of the 21st century, in the absence of predictable government and military assistance, of necessity, will be compelled to rethink their transition strategies. Concludes that corporations will assume greater responsibility for functions – including intelligence acquisition, law enforcement, and military projection – normally provided by traditional nation‐states, following the pattern of the British East India Company.
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A century ago, military instruments were readily deployed in imperialistic adventures or the defence of national interests. Today the strategic environment is more complex and…
Abstract
A century ago, military instruments were readily deployed in imperialistic adventures or the defence of national interests. Today the strategic environment is more complex and diplomatic protocols more established. The information revolution is meanwhile telescoping time frames and proliferating futures scenarios. But even if the politicians are driving the agenda, the security imperative remains the same. For defence planners that implies new models and mechanisms, and a closer nexus in the formulation of political and defence policy.
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This chapter discusses how private military corporations (PMCs) and their employees have been implicated in discourses and practices of sexual violence. I examine how PMCs have…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter discusses how private military corporations (PMCs) and their employees have been implicated in discourses and practices of sexual violence. I examine how PMCs have become seemingly permanent fixtures of international relations since the end of the Cold War. Furthermore, the purpose is to contribute to the ongoing conversations about PMCs and gender. To do this, I examine one instance of sexual violence in the context of PMCs. I argue that, since the legal case was forced into private arbitration, this maneuver reflects critical shifts in the normalizing power of law, away from a model of a social contract toward global neoliberal economics.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing postmodern feminist theory alongside a Foucauldian discourse analysis, I explore the case of one PMC contractor who alleged rape by multiple coworkers in Iraq. I examine the limitations of standpoint feminism in relation to theories and representations of sexual violence.
Social implications
I claim that military outsourcing raises serious concerns for feminists theorizing issues of gender and wartime sexual violence. PMC personnel are unaccountable when they are implicated in cases of sexual violence. Feminist critique is urgent given the various ways PMCs have been implicated in reproducing gender inequality and in sexual violence.
Originality/value
This chapter advances feminist knowledge about wartime sexual violence in a context where PMCs now play a significant role in the reproduction of practices that normalize sexual violence in public and private militarized spaces, both “at home” and “abroad.”
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This chapter argues that sustainable development must be anchored on a human rights regime and that an integrated framing of human rights and sustainability in development policy…
Abstract
This chapter argues that sustainable development must be anchored on a human rights regime and that an integrated framing of human rights and sustainability in development policy and practice is crucial in the achievement of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Using data gathered from the author's field research during her US Fulbright Fellowship in the Philippines in 2017, the chapter examines the impacts of corporate mining on the Philippine Indigenous people using the United Nations Declaration on the Human Rights of Indigenous People as a framework for analysis. The experience of the indigenous people shows that large scale corporate mining – largely dominated by transnational corporations – threatens their right to life, right to ancestral land, right to a healthy environment, right to education and cultural rights, right to self-determination, and the right to sustainable development. The violation of these rights threatens the Indigenous people's survival and makes their situation even more precarious during COVID-19 pandemic. State and corporate recognition of these rights is crucial to building resiliency to the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and the survival of the indigenous people.
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The USA and China have had a complex relationship since the 1949 establishment of the People’s Republic of China. This relationship has gone from hostility to guarded friendliness…
Abstract
The USA and China have had a complex relationship since the 1949 establishment of the People’s Republic of China. This relationship has gone from hostility to guarded friendliness to increased tension at the beginning of the new millennium. Recent years have seen the emergence of literature stressing China’s potential emergence as a national security threat to the USA. This article will look at books, government documents, and Internet resources examining the current and possible future national security relationship between these two countries from 1995/1996 to the present. This literature presents US and international perspectives representing a variety of viewpoints on a subject that may have a major impact on international relations during the twenty‐first century.
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The design of the Jaguar is remarkable in that optimisation was applied during design. In this paper read before the Royal Aeronautical Society, the authors revealed that the…
Abstract
The design of the Jaguar is remarkable in that optimisation was applied during design. In this paper read before the Royal Aeronautical Society, the authors revealed that the techniques which have for long been dismissed as impractical in aviation have now been proved valid even in the design of military aircraft.