ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some of the theories –none of them wholly adequate –which are advanced to try to account for these regimes and analyses briefly some of the main characteristics of such regimes. In militarism we see the 'civilized' version of group solidarity based on aggression against other communities. The main difference, it would seem, between modern man and the homonids is that aggression has been institutionalized. In modern society, the military rarely meets with unswerving social approbation –except, of course, when it is needed. Unlike complex pre-industrial systems, modern societies are in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The military, in its various guises, is part of the homeostatic process. It is a ubiquitous feature of virtually all known societies. The characteristics of the ideal-type militaristic society when taken separately are by no means unique, but taken together they add up to a particular kind of military culture.
