ABSTRACT
The disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the alternative economic system embodied in the socialist bloc has allowed the United States to establish absolute economic and military hegemony. Wielding uncontested power, the United States is rapidly recreating the world in its own image, establishing a global police state. The purpose of U.S. militarization is to impose a new world order: neoliberal capitalism for everyone, whether they want it or not. This imposition of global capitalism requires the crudest forms of social control, including mass imprisonment, political repression, proxy wars, and outright military takeovers. Women are affected in a variety of ways by militarization and increasing repression, including political surveillance and mass incarceration. This chapter will examine how domestic and external wars waged by the “global policeman” affect women, particularly women of color and women from the global South. It will also explore the connections between militarism and the prison-industrial complex and discuss the ways in which increased surveillance, policing, and mass incarceration are militarizing U.S. society.
