ABSTRACT
The historical outcome of the potlatch war – within the framework of the given conditions – is the victory of "the market" over "war". This chapter focuses on the statement that the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States developed in the shape of a potlatch for reasons of strategic logic. It looks at different phases of American security policy from Richard Nixon's presidency to the Reagan administration. The chapter reflects on the fundamental connection between arming, war and the market economy in an era of permanent technological progress. Reagan's wager, which seemed so reckless to many observers paid off: the United States won the "Third World War". As a simple inversion of the viewpoint of their shipwrecked opponents it repeats its structural fault: it is blind to the difficult linkage between war, the economy and politics.
