Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
Azor...here is the critical sentence that triggered this thread......



My argument is that with the advances in 1) cyber warfare and 2) information warfare that we are literally in the midst of.....until one thoroughly research's the far reaching impacts of both of these.....on the "political system"......Then you are simply spinning empty cycles of time/space ....and going nowhere...

I might have argued that actually the sophistication of warfare ACTUALLY drives the sophistication of industrialization and finance which in turn drives "globalization" WHICH then impacts squarely the "political system"....WHICH then struggles to even try to catch up with the developments going on around it.

Why did I include the term "financial"....check all recent from say 1975 fair trade agreements including the proposed TTP and TTIP....they all have had difficulties in formulation during negotiations in this key area...."Services".......

"Services" meaning banks...hedge funds...investment flows ie money and how it flows and how it will be taxed and or not taxed....etc....

Example......check out the total amount of the current UK yearly budget and how much of that budget is earned in taxes by the financial services industry located in the "City" of London....
So to sum up our differences, we see the direction of the relationship as different. I think this is a chicken vs egg question: what emerged first, war or the state? Most material historical explanations generally start with the creation of economic relations which in turn produce a political system to sustain it, and a security apparatus to protect it. In the 20th century, many of the military technological advances were produced by states intent on maximizing their chances of victory in an environment of total war. The great powers entered World War I with the old world sense of horse trading territories before recognizing that revolutionary nature of the war that imperialism had created. In this sense, the political system pushed states to the logical extremes of total state destruction, to be repeated again in WW2.

But I also recognize that this process is a negotiation between political sophistication and military sophistication. Many things today, such as cyber warfare, would not be possible without technological advancement.