ABSTRACT
The military-industrial complex (MIC) is the informal, powerful, and entrenched network between the military establishment and the defense industry. Although the MIC and militarism are closely associated, they are not identical. At the extremes are views that reject the MIC formula and views that expand it to include a very large portion of industrialized economic and cultural activity. The influence of capitalism on the emergence of the MIC predates the development of nuclear weapons by many decades, and the profit motive of capitalism is one of the hallmarks of the MIC. The MIC is inexorably linked to achieving and expanding these processes and the military strength and industrial profits that they generate. Critical attention to the MIC is more common during times of peace, since during war the additional fog of patriotism generally prevents consideration of effects of weapons use and profits from military spending.
