Pathologies of Defense

DOI10.1177/002234338402100202
AuthorKenneth E. Boulding
Date01 June 1984
Published date01 June 1984
Subject MatterArticles
Pathologies
of
Defense
KENNETH
E.
BOULDING
Institute
of
Behavioral
Science,
University
of
Colorado,
Boulder
The
broadest
concept
of
defense
is
that
of
preventing
unwanted
change.
This
implies
human
evaluations
of
complex
systems,
estimating
a
given
change
as
for
the
better
or
for
the
worse.
The
distinction
between
perceived
betterment
and
actual
betterment
is
difficult
to
make,
but
not
meaningless.
’National
Defense’
is
particularly
concerned
with
conflict
systems
and
threat
systems.
A
conflict
process
is
a
change
in
which
one
party
is
perceived
to
become
better
off,
the
other
worse
off.
Again
there
may
be
a
difference
between
perceived
and
actual
conflict.
Threat
systems
originate
when
one
party
says
’You
do
something
1
want,
or
1
will
do
something
you
don’t
want’.
Possible
responses
are
submission,
defiance,
flight,
counterthreat
(deterrence),
or
threat
diminution
(armor,
walls).
National
defense
is
basically
non-economic;
it
does
not
justify
itself
by
cost-benefit
analysis,
but
by
absolute
values
of
sacrifice
and
sacredness.
The
state
is
strengthened
by
sacrificing
its
own
soldiers,
not
by
killing
the
enemy,
for
that
makes
the
enemy
sacred.
National
defense
however
now
threatens
to
destroy
us
all.
The
most
important
conflict
in
the
world
today
is
that
between
the
unilateral
national
defense
organizations
of
the
world
and
the
human
race
itself.
The
only
national
defense
that
is
now
feasible
is
stable
peace.
l.
The
great
confusion
’Defense’
is
one
of
the
more
ambiguous
words
in
the
English
language.
Not
being
a
linguist,
I
do
not
know
whether
other
languages
have
the
same
problem
with
their
equivalent,
but
I
suspect
that
the
problem
is
one
of
thought
rather
than
language,
though,
of
course,
the
impact
of
language
on
thought
is
a
very
legitimate
field
of
study.
The
word
defense
has
an
air
of
legitimacy
about
it.
It
certainly
seems
much
more
virtuous
than
’aggression’,
and
less
disturbing
than
’war’,
which
is
perhaps
why
we
no
longer
speak
of
War
Departments,
but
rather
of
Departments
of
Defense.
This
reflects,
in
part,
a
decline
in
the
legitimacy
of
war
as
an
institution,
as
reflected,
for
instance,
in
popular
songs
and
poetry,
which
are
an
im-
portant
indicator
of
the
general
framework
of
legitimacy.
The
First
World
War,
for
instance,
produced
some
very
stirring
war
songs,
the
Second
World
War
produced
virtually
none,
and,
in
the
United
States,
the
Vietnam
War
produced
nothing
but
anti-war
songs.
In
poetry,
too,
it
is
a
little
hard
to
read
Tennyson’s
’The
Charge
of
the
Light
Brigade’
without
a
slight
embarassment,
and
it
is
very
hard
to
imagine
it
being
written
by
any
modern
poet.
Institutions
survive,
however,
long
after
their
legitimacy
has
decayed.
Even
though
I
have
argued
that
the
dynamics
of
legitimacy
governs
all
other
social
systems,
the
processes
by
which
legitimacy
is
gained
or
lost
are
very
complex,
mysterious,
and
little
understood,
and
the
inter-
val
between
a
loss of
legitimacy
and
the
change
in
institutions
which
must
eventually
result
is
often
quite
lengthy.
We
stand
at
a
very
uncom-
fortable
moment
in
history,
indeed,
when
neither
war
nor
peace
is
legitimate,
which
leaves
us
only
with
the
legitimacy
of
fear.
Thinking
on
the
subject
of
defense
is
greatly
confused
by
the
fact
that
it
is
not
a
unitary
concept,
even
when
the
world
is
used
hypo-
critically
as
a
substitute
for
war-making.
The
word
defense
does
not
define
a
useful
taxonomy,
for
it
is
very
hard
to
divide
the
social
system
into
one
part
labelled
’defense’
and
the
remainder
labelled
’not
defense’.
On
the
other
hand,
it
includes
a
number
of
very
important
concepts,
and
it
wanders
around
the
intersections
of
a
number
of
different
social
sets.
If
we
are
look-
ing
for
a
single
definition
of
defense,
we
could
think
of
it
as
the
problem
of
how
to
prevent
unwanted
change
in
the
state
of
the world.
This,
of
course,
is
much
too
broad
a
definition
from
the
point
of
view
of
military
and
war
systems.
It
would
include
preventive
medicine,
first
aid,
proper
nutrition,
exercises
which
improve
mental
health,
the
learning
of
survival

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