SECTION 5 - THE FUNCTIONS OF WAR
As we have indicated, the preeminence of the concept of war as the principal
organizing force in most societies has been insufficiently appreciated. This is
also true of its extensive effects throughout the many nonmilitary activities of
society. These effects are less apparent in complex industrial societies like our
own than in primitive cultures, the activities of which can be more easily and
fully comprehended.
We propose in this section to examine these nonmilitary, implied, and usually
invisible functions of war, to the extent that they bear on the problems of
transition to peace for our society. The military, or ostensible, function of the
war system requires no elaboration; it serves simply to defend or advance the
"national interest" by means of organized violence. It is often necessary for a
national military establishment to create a need for its unique powers--to
maintain the franchise, so to speak. And a healthy military apparatus requires
"exercise," by whatever rationale seems expedient, to prevent its atrophy.
The nonmilitary functions of the war system are more basic. They exist not
merely to justify themselves but to serve broader social purposes. If and when
war is eliminated, the military functions it has served will end with it. But its
nonmilitary functions will not. It is essential, therefore, that we understand their
significance before we can reasonably expect to evaluate whatever institutions
may be proposed to replace them.
ECONOMIC
The production of weapons of mass destruction has always been associated with
economic "waste." The term is pejorative, since it implies a failure of function.
But no human activity can properly be considered wasteful if it achieves its
contextual objective. The phrase "wasteful but necessary," applied not only to
war expenditures but to most of the "unproductive" commercial activities of our
society, is a contradiction in terms. "...The attacks that have since the time of
Samuel's criticism of King Saul been leveled against military expenditures as
waste may well have concealed or misunderstood the point that some kinds of
waste may have a larger social utility."
In the case of military "waste," there is indeed a larger social utility. It derives
from the fact that the "wastefulness" of war production is exercised entirely
outside the framework of the economy of supply and demand. As such, it
provides the only critically large segment of the total economy that is subject to
complete and arbitrary central control. If modern industrial societies can be
As we have indicated, the preeminence of the concept of war as the principal
organizing force in most societies has been insufficiently appreciated. This is
also true of its extensive effects throughout the many nonmilitary activities of
society. These effects are less apparent in complex industrial societies like our
own than in primitive cultures, the activities of which can be more easily and
fully comprehended.
We propose in this section to examine these nonmilitary, implied, and usually
invisible functions of war, to the extent that they bear on the problems of
transition to peace for our society. The military, or ostensible, function of the
war system requires no elaboration; it serves simply to defend or advance the
"national interest" by means of organized violence. It is often necessary for a
national military establishment to create a need for its unique powers--to
maintain the franchise, so to speak. And a healthy military apparatus requires
"exercise," by whatever rationale seems expedient, to prevent its atrophy.
The nonmilitary functions of the war system are more basic. They exist not
merely to justify themselves but to serve broader social purposes. If and when
war is eliminated, the military functions it has served will end with it. But its
nonmilitary functions will not. It is essential, therefore, that we understand their
significance before we can reasonably expect to evaluate whatever institutions
may be proposed to replace them.
ECONOMIC
The production of weapons of mass destruction has always been associated with
economic "waste." The term is pejorative, since it implies a failure of function.
But no human activity can properly be considered wasteful if it achieves its
contextual objective. The phrase "wasteful but necessary," applied not only to
war expenditures but to most of the "unproductive" commercial activities of our
society, is a contradiction in terms. "...The attacks that have since the time of
Samuel's criticism of King Saul been leveled against military expenditures as
waste may well have concealed or misunderstood the point that some kinds of
waste may have a larger social utility."
In the case of military "waste," there is indeed a larger social utility. It derives
from the fact that the "wastefulness" of war production is exercised entirely
outside the framework of the economy of supply and demand. As such, it
provides the only critically large segment of the total economy that is subject to
complete and arbitrary central control. If modern industrial societies can be
