Beyond the “Sinew of War”: The Political Economy of Security as a Subfield

Abstract

Since at least Cicero, we have known that “money is the sinew of war.” Is it possible for a political economy of security (PES) subfield to contribute knowledge beyond Cicero's claim? This article aims to delineate the boundaries of a PES subfield by using the classic “guns versus butter” trade-off to define the existing literature within the subfield. Thinking seriously about this trade-off, including conditions under which a trade-off may not exist, raises a host of questions. The two most direct questions are: How does consuming “guns” influence the consumption of “butter”? And how does using “guns” influence the consumption of “butter”?

ASEAN's economic security and regional economic cooperation: Past, present, and future

“…Nevertheless, it is commonly suggested that ASEAN's perceptions on the linkages between economic security interests have significantly moved away from realist paradigms. ASEAN's continuing emphasis on regional economic cooperation and integration over the past three decades suggests that member states have embraced the liberal ideals of commercial peace (Bearce and Omori, 2005; Goldsmith, 2007; Haftel and Hofmann, 2017; Peou, 2002), albeit arguably, and extended the scope of economic security into non-traditional security issues (Caballero-Anthony, 2018; Peou, 2014).…”

“…Relying on a historical institutional approach, Stubbs and Mitrea (2017) maintain that ASEAN's durability as a regional organization has been enhanced by the timing and nature of changes in the global economy over the past decades. The influx of foreign aid and foreign investment from the 1970s through the early 1990s boosted ASEAN economies with major infrastructure projects, promoting political stability and social progress.…”

“…The expansion of trade in raw materials and manufactured goods and regional production networks enhanced by China's economic rise have led ASEAN to form preferential trading arrangements within members and with China, respectively. Thus, the continuous interactions with the global economy have induced ASEAN to make institutional developments as a credible organization and enhance its ability to function effectively for regional economic cooperation while overcoming adverse shocks from the 2008 global financial crises (Stubbs and Mitrea, 2017).…”

Military spending and economic development: A theoretical note

“…Every dollar spent and allocated to the military could be spent and allocated to the direct satisfaction of basic human needs and the improvement of human and ecological life in general. The enormous ‘opportunity cost’ of military spending is why Yale economists Nordhaus and Tobin (1972) once referred to it as a ‘regrettable expense’ (Poast, 2019: 225). Nearly a decade before his 1961 farewell address and warning of the growing undemocratic influence of the ‘military-industrial-complex’, former NATO Commander and then US President D.D.…”