The Nation
at War. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1980.
Over 100 million people lost
their lives in war during the twentieth century alone. Even
more have seen war destroy their societies and restructure
their countries - politically, economically, and socially.
Throughout history, scholars have used war to mark major
turning points in human events, yet its domestic, social,
and economic consequences have not been systematically
investigated either by historians or, more importantly, by
the policymakers responsible for leading their countries
into prolonged conflict.
In The Nation at War, Arthur A. Stein begins the
long-overdue evaluation of war as a public policy. By
reexamining the conventional wisdom about war in light of
empirical data concerning domestic changes during wartime,
Stein develops a theory linking wartime mobilization to
national cohesion, concentration of production and
government control, and inequality in the distribution of
goods and services. What emerges is a sound, well-balanced
argument that offers new and often provocative conclusions
about the effects of armed conflict on a nation and its
citizenry.
Unlike many other nations, the United States has never been
physically or economically devastated by an international
conflict; indeed, the prevailing American pattern has been
to "fight and forget." This makes the United States an
ideal test case for Stein's theory, and he evaluates in
depth the effects of World War I and World War II, the
Korean War, and the war in Vietnam on the American
homefront.
Empirical data support Stein's hypotheses. For instance,
his examination of statistics on crime, strikes, political
violence, racial
unrest, congressional voting patterns, and public opinion
shows that prolonged wartime mobilization actually
decreases domestic cohesion. Stein also finds that growth
in state power may be used to offset other social effects
of wartime mobilization.
All of the author's findings illustrate with new clarity
the need for policymakers and analysts to evaluate war as
stringently as they would any other public policy or
program. Even if a new knowledge of war's side effects
cannot prevent leaders from waging war, says Stein, it can
at least assist them in minimizing or preparing for any
undesired domestic ramifications.
Review:
The Nation at War is an imporant contribution to a
realistic understanding of the consequences of war choices.
. . . the findings about domestic impacts illuminate in
cold and realistic terms major consequences of war as a
deliberate policy choice. To the extent that wars are
entered into deliberately, we have a growing body of
evidence pointing to their wastefulness, anticonservative
consequences, and hollow victories.
--David Bobrow, American Political Science Review