THE SELF-AMPLIFYING FEEDBACK BETWEEN SOCIETAL MILITARIZATION AND VIOLENT FOREIGN-POLICY - GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE UNITED-STATES, 1900-1985

Fairly strong theoretical arguments posit that the use of force to ach ieve foreign policy objectives and the militarization of society are p art of a self-amplifying feedback process. In spite of the rather cohe rent reasoning linking these two factors, little empirical work has at tempted to demonstrate the strength of this postulated relationship. T his analysis uses a system of equations to model this hypothesized fee dback in the US and British societies during the 20th century. The fin dings presented below lend tentative support for the hypothesized feed back, though suggests that further verification might be facilitated t hrough refinements in the operational indicators of violent foreign po licy. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that systemic level varia bles contribute significantly to the propensity of the US and Great Br itain to employ violence as a tool of foreign policy.