Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:22:23.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Socialism, Capitalism, and Militarism: A Reply to Dye and Zeigler

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Extract

In the December 1989 issue of PS, Thomas Dye and Harmon Zeigler argue that socialist nations are inherently more militaristic than capitalist ones because they are “driven by the bureaucratic imperatives of a society organized on collective coercive principles.” In contrast, “capitalist states, whether authoritarian or democratic, rely principally upon markets to organize societal activity. Markets organize people for private enterprise and rely upon voluntary exchange to carry on these enterprises” therefore, capitalist nations are inherently less militaristic (Dye and Zeigler 1989: 812). Below are some major differences I have with their position.

Type
Features
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldridge, Robert. 1983. First Strike! The Pentagon's Strategy for Nuclear War. Boston: South End Press.Google Scholar
Center for Defense Information. 1988. “U.S. Soviet Military Facts,” Defense Monitor, vol. 17, no. 5. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Center for Defense Information. 1989. “The U.S. Military After the Cold War,” Defense Monitor, vol. 18, no. 8. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cockburn, Andrew. 1984. The Threat: Inside the Soviet Military Machine. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Cox, Arthur M. 1984. “The CIA's Tragic Mistake” in Olson, Gary ed. How the World Works. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, 252257.Google Scholar
Department of Defense. 1982. Department of Defense Annual Report FY 1982. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Dye, Thomas, and Zeigler, Harmon. 1989. “Socialism and Militarism,” PS: Political Science and Politics, December 800813.Google Scholar
Gervasi, Tom. 1986. The Myth of Soviet Military Supremacy. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Holzman, Franklin. 1983. “A Gap? Another?New York Times, March 9.Google Scholar
Mason, Herbert M. Jr., 1978. To Kill the Devil, The Attempts on the Life of Adolph Hitler. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Parenti, Michael. 1989. The Sword and the Dollar. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Rzheshevsky, Oleg. 1984. World War II: Myths and the Realities. Moscow: Progress Publishers.Google Scholar
Sevostyanov, Pavel. 1981. Before the Nazi Invasion. Moscow: Progress Publishers.Google Scholar
Silk, Leonard. 1989. “Did the CIA Distort Soviet Outlays?New York Times, November 17.Google Scholar
Stavrianos, L. S. 1981. Global Rift, The Third World Comes of Age. New York: William Murrow.Google Scholar
Stubbing, Richard. 1982. “The Imaginary Defense Gap: We Already Outspend Them,” Washington Post, February 14.Google Scholar
Szymanski, Albert. 1981. The Logic of Imperialism. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar