Aaron Plateros

Sociology 1301

10-11:30 TTH
Patricia Johnson

Military Globalization
Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-1130 am
Patricia Johnson

Aaron Plateros
Sociology 1301

10-11:30 TTH
Patricia Johnson

Military engagement and warfare are as central to the process of Globalization as they are
inevitable: Global Militarization, the old way, has expired, and Military Globalization, the new
means, is a reality. Military Globalization. What is it? Military globalization is the increase of
range within which military power can be projected through the progress of military organization
and technology and the increasing strategic interrelation first of regional systems and later of the
global system. Networks of military force operate internationally to achieve certain objectives.
Military doesnt not only include world super powers like the US and Russia. Military groups
can include any group that has weapons in certain areas.
There are many ways that globalization promotes militarism. But, before we get into
that. Lets define militarism. According to Miriam-Webster Dictionary, militarism is the belief or
desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and
be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests. With saying that, there
are many groups there that want to promote their interests through force. First of globalization
creates a breeding ground for terrorism. Globalization feeds resentment in poor countries as
poverty increases, foreign products flood local markets displacing local producers, and human
rights are abused by northern corporations exploiting low-paid labor. The result is an audience of
desperate people ready to listen to religious extremists' exhortations to take up arms or undertake
acts of terrorism. Many religious extremist set up ads on social media that recruit people from
across the world to join them in the fight. Many people join because they have very good
persuasive techniques to make people join. Military globalization can also include private
companies that have their own military.
Globalization requires military protection of corporate interests abroad. Great empires of
the past learned that their colonial holdings and trade routes needed to be protected by military

Aaron Plateros
Sociology 1301

10-11:30 TTH
Patricia Johnson

power against local uprisings and competing empires. For example, The Silk Road, trough out
many year, empires always had military protecting their goods until the goods reach its
destination, or until a transaction were made on these goods. Weapons, from handguns to fighter
jets, are a profitable business. Generous government contracts, huge profit margins, and
inevitable cost overruns ensure spectacular dividends for weapons producers. Conflicts burning
throughout the world guarantee plenty of buyers. After a post-cold war decline, global military
spending rose in 2000 to $800 billion.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States demonstrated that the
global economy was vulnerable, and economic elites demanded governments provide military
protection for the system. Today, the Pentagon is realigning and expanding its vast international
network of bases along the frontiers of the global economy, such as in central Asia. And in places
like Colombia, U.S. troops and weapons are being deployed where uprisings threaten corporate
investments. And because of these investments the US has been spending more money on
military. Globalization promotes military spending over social spending. Security exceptions in
free trade agreements grant governments a free hand in military spending, but place limits on
social spending. Thus, governments use military spending to achieve non-defense goals such as
job creation, regional development, and subsidization of local corporations through defense
contracts. Since the late 1990s, world military spending has been on the rise and is now nearly $1
trillion a year almost half of this is by the United States alone. Just image all the other super
powers of the world. So much money placed in the military of ones nation.
This type of globalization militarizes the economic development of emerging countries.
Free trade agreements limit the ability of governments to stipulate that foreign investment and
government purchases must benefit the local economy. However, security exceptions permit

Aaron Plateros
Sociology 1301

10-11:30 TTH
Patricia Johnson

poorer southern governments to buy arms from foreign, northern-based corporations and demand
that technology and manufacturing be transferred to help the local economy.
But military production is a poor development tool because it creates fewer jobs than
investment in public works would provide, and makes no long-term contribution to the economy
(except from arms exports). Even more, the new local military industries become dependent
upon military spending, draining resources away from social programs such as health and
education.
Globalization promotes corporate security over human security. Globalization and free
trade regimes align government interests with corporate interests, resulting in the state
increasingly assuming the role of promoter and defender of corporate interests at home and
abroad.
This focus on corporate interests comes at the expense of governments providing for the
security of their citizens through social programs and public-interest legislation, and from states
undertaking international actions to promote peace and security and achieve the greater public
good, regardless of the impact on corporate profits. So basically its money over the people.
One organization, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is repeatedly, and
very controversially, involved in some form or another in many of these conflicts led by the US
and its allies. The NATO expansion is great example of military globalization. NATO is also
contemplating a process of global reach which would transform it into a global military force
with member states outside of North America and the European continent. Although not yet
official, NATO has already initiated a transition towards the globalization of its military forces
and operations. NATO is heavily involved in Afghanistan and is tangled in Central Asia; NATO

Aaron Plateros
Sociology 1301

10-11:30 TTH
Patricia Johnson

bases exist in Afghanistan, on the immediate borders of China and Iran. NATO has also extended
its presence in the Balkans (highlighted by its involvement in the former Yugoslavia). NATO has
also envisioned large military operations in the Sudan and more generally in the African
continent, under what is referred to by its opponents as the masquerade of peace-keeping.
NATOs ultimate goal is encircling Russia, China, and their allies. The first and most important
area where change must come is in further developing our ability to project stability to the East
Said NATO Secretary-General Manfred Wrner.
In conclusion this type of globalization has both its pros and cons. Globalization is
changing the face of the Earth. Who knows we might be under one world government and/or
military.

Aaron Plateros
Sociology 1301

10-11:30 TTH
Patricia Johnson

Reference Page
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