On Militarism

This essay traces the usages of the term militarism from the late eighteenth century to the present in order to contextualize the current debate over an American militarism. It departs from the common assumption that Germany represents an ideal type of modern militarism and shows that recent scholarship suggests a wider European phenomenon of bellicosity and militarization in the age of the world wars. It concludes that significant elements of militarism have emerged in the American warfare state, but it questions the notion that this represents an adaptation of conventionally understood European militarism.