In (H)Arm's Way : A Look Into the Culture of the Defense and Security Industry

Sammanfattning: Through an examination of the businesses and people that support war-making, collectively known as the defense and security industry, this thesis reveals the controlling processes at work that make the business of war palatable to those who work within the industry. Three controlling processes are examined: (1) The industry’s culturally specific language; a barrier built with syntax, preventing both entry from outsiders and exit by insiders, allowing for institutionalized insanity to set in while also legitimizing the business pursuits of these companies as normal and acceptable; (2) The scientific pursuit and technology itself, supported and maintained by the exalted position the pursuit of science holds in Western society, and the assumption that technological innovation is always an intellectual and noble pursuit, which is critical to the industry’s survival; (3) The ideologies of Western liberal democracy that buttresses the industry; defined primarily by insecurity, assumed moral authority, and neoliberal capitalism/short-term self-interest. The terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 served as a springboard for the industry to imbed itself into domestic settings, and carry-out acts of war in faraway countries without the consent of the people, thereby threatening the democratic ideals it claims to protect.