Review - M. Owens, "The Political Economy of National Defense"

In comparing the three concepts of Political Economics – Liberalism, Marxism, Mercantilism, it is virtually impossible to separate the domestic and international aspects of Economics. The objective of Liberalism is to maximize global welfare through cooperation. Liberalism asserts that economics should determine politics. The goal of Marxism is to maximize class interest. Marxist believe that the globalization of economics is the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalist and that economics does determine politics.

For Mercantilists, globalization will cause national productivity to decline and they believe in maximizing national interest and that politics determine economics. Hegemonic stability, the Realist view of economic globalization, contends that a state will adopt the leadership role when it is in its national interest. The significance of hegemony is that ‘order in world politics is created by one dominant power and that maintaining order requires continued domination.’ Economic instruments in international relations can reveal themselves as a carrot – aid, trade, or investments – or as a stick in the form of economic sanctions.

The pros and of using economic instruments is that it gives politicians something other than the use of force to influence behavior. The drawbacks is that such instruments take more time, require widespread commitment and they mostly impinge on the weakest population of the government rather than the government itself.

Also, the mutually dependent global economy has made it difficult to use such policies to coerce behavior. In fact Sec State Powell has said that economic sanctions are ineffective and that it makes the U.S. look arrogant. The separation of economics from politics cannot not be cleanly executed but there will be a move to make it a two layer cake of white and black instead of its current marbled variety.

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Lieutenant Ken Rice is an Active Duty Naval Officer stationed in Norfolk VA. He is currently assigned to Commander, Naval Surface Force's Warfare Requirments Directorate as the FORCEnet Requirements Officer. Lieutenant Rice is responsible for the program analasys and budget oversight for Information Technology Transformation for the Surface Fleet. He is currently enrolled at Regent University working towards a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership.

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