A valuable regulatory instrument: the militarization of U.S. domestic affairs in the name of national security

Abstract

Compared to other accumulation models, the capitalist accumulation model has always been more susceptible to social uprisings because of its structural class conflicts, monopolistic and expansionist characteristics and its tendency toward systematic crises. In this context, the regulatory instruments of national security, namely, police and military forces, have functioned as “preventive” regulatory instruments to suppress social uprisings in the resilient process of hegemony (i.e., historic bloc) and the accumulation model. This paper examines how the authorization of the military and police force in American domestic affairs have been justified in the name of national security since the outset of the structural crisis of capitalism.