Washington, D.C. – On July 18, Routledge published a critical new book by militarism and national security expert Miriam Pemberton, Institute for Policy Studies Associate Fellow, entitled Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Rethinking Warfare Economies.
On August 4, at 12:30-2:00 PM ET, Pemberton will speak about her new book at a special virtual launch event, “Whatever Happened to the Peace Dividend, and Can We Get One Back?“hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, together with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, CODEPINK, Pentagon Budget Campaign, Project on Government Oversight, and Public Citizen. To RSVP as press or ask questions ahead of the book launch event, please contact IPS Media Manager Olivia Alperstein at olivia@ips-dc.org.
The U.S. military economy incorporates hundreds of American communities. This is the first book to connect our national security apparatus to a study of communities at the local level via deeply reported profiles of six military locations, the militarized U.S. border, and hyper weapons in the pipeline.
“Miriam Pemberton has written the definitive contemporary account of the cultural and economic behemoth that is ‘National Security.’ She uses her deep expertise and vivid writing to examine this terrain and suggest another way is not just possible but existentially and immediately necessary,” noted Catherine Lutz, Professor Emerita of Anthropology and International Studies at Brown University and Co-Director of the Costs of War project.
The six locations in the book include production sites, bases, and nuclear weapons labs, and they feature both military Meccas and out-of-the way installations.
At a time when the broader debate over military spending has heated up thanks to debates over the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act and the Pentagon budget, Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Rethinking Warfare Economies offers a timely, sharp, and insightful analysis of the military’s structure, self-perpetuating policies, budget, and full cost.
Pemberton traces the lines of connection between her tour stops and U.S. foreign policy, industrial policy, and budget priorities. She examines the meaning of national security in the current moment, as climate change becomes what the military itself calls “an urgent and growing threat.” And she demonstrates how redirecting funding for our militarized foreign and industrial policy toward climate security can help these communities become part of the solution.
“In the long run, there is simply no path to a demilitarized world that doesn’t deal with the economic foundations of war,” noted Pemberton. “I hope Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Rethinking Warfare Economies will be a resource for that effort. In the short run, we have to keep pushing. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.”
Miriam Pemberton is available for interviews. To receive a copy of the book and request an interview, contact IPS Media Manager Olivia Alperstein at (202) 704-9011 or olivia@ips-dc.org
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About the Institute for Policy Studies
For nearly six decades, the Institute for Policy Studies has provided critical research support for major social movements and progressive leaders inside and outside government and on the ground around the United States and the world. As the United States’ oldest progressive multi-issue think tank, IPS turns bold ideas into action through public scholarship and mentorship of the next generation of progressive scholars and activists.