# The Garrison State

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{{Short description|Garrison State}}
'''The Garrison State''' is a concept first introduced in a seminal, highly influential and cited 1941 article originally published in the ''[American Journal of Sociology](/source/American_Journal_of_Sociology)'' by political scientist and sociologist [Harold Lasswell](/source/Harold_Lasswell).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=J. Malcolm |last2=Cotter |first2=Cornelius P. |date=1957 |title=Freedom and Authority in the Amphibial State |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2109011 |journal=Midwest Journal of Political Science |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=40–59 |doi=10.2307/2109011 |jstor=2109011 |issn=0026-3397|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It was a "developmental construct" that outlined the possibility of a political-military elite composed of "specialists in violence" in a modern [state](/source/State_(polity)).<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/07430178908405382|title = The Garrison State| journal=Defense Analysis| volume=5| pages=83–86|year = 1989|last1 = Stanley|first1 = Jay| last2=Segal| first2=David R.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/why-the-garrison-state-here-stay-10039 | title=Why the Garrison State is Here to Stay| date=March 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1177/0095327X7900500302|title = Remarks on Lasswell's 'The Garrison State'| journal=[Armed Forces & Society](/source/Armed_Forces_%26_Society)| volume=5| issue=3| pages=347–359|year = 1979|last1 = Aron|first1 = Raymond}}</ref>

Lasswell was particularly influenced by the development of [aerial warfare](/source/aerial_warfare), especially as employed during the [Second Sino-Japanese War](/source/Second_Sino-Japanese_War), which he believed would lead to a "socialization of danger" throughout. His writings preceded and anticipated fire-bombing campaigns in the era of the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War), including the use of [Agent Orange](/source/Agent_Orange), and beyond, as well as firebombings of [Dresden](/source/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II), [Tokyo](/source/Bombing_of_Tokyo), [London](/source/The_Blitz), [Hamburg](/source/Bombing_of_Hamburg_in_World_War_II) and use of atomic bombs [on Hiroshima and Nagasaki](/source/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II).

The ''Garrison State'' is a state dominated by the [military-industrial complex](/source/military-industrial_complex). President [Dwight D. Eisenhower](/source/Dwight_D._Eisenhower) believed that a deep, even paranoid, fear of the military might and superiority of [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) would turn the United States into a "garrison state", with an economy dominated by military spending and civil liberties eroded. The military-industrial complex became a force in itself, consuming a majority of the United States discretionary federal budget at the expense of infrastructure, educational or health spending, spreading fear among the populace and looking for enemies to replace the Soviet Union after the end of the [Cold War](/source/Cold_War).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.rand.org/blog/2005/04/fear-and-the-garrison-state.html | title=Fear and the Garrison State| date=April 26, 2005}}</ref> 
The ''Garrison State'' is an American political concept not to be confused with the [Garrison mentality](/source/Garrison_mentality) found in Canadian history and current tradition by [Northrop Frye](/source/Northrop_Frye) and [Margaret Atwood](/source/Margaret_Atwood).

==See also==
*[Militarism](/source/Militarism)
*[Permanent war economy](/source/Permanent_war_economy)
*[Songun](/source/Songun)
*[Stratocracy](/source/Stratocracy)

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
*[Lasswell, Harold](/source/Harold_Lasswell). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2769918 "The Garrison State"]. ''[American Journal of Sociology](/source/American_Journal_of_Sociology)'', Vol. 46, No. 4, January 1941, pp. 455–468. {{JSTOR|2769918}}

==External links==
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2769918 Harold Lasswell’s "The Garrison State"] at [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrison State, The}}
Category:1941 documents
Category:1941 in military history
Category:Militarism
Category:Military sociology

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