A Peace-Industrial Complex

In 1961 President Dwight Eisenhower warned his fellow Americans of the rise of the 'militaryindustrial complex' - in effect a network of political, military and commercial interests (the mass media should also be added) that benefit from preparing for war. The participants were not necessarily warlike; it was simply they could make a lot of money out of defence preparations. In a 1986 doctoral dissertation I argued that there should be a 'peace-industrial complex', drawn from organisations that make money out of peace, to create the necessary political will to encourage a reduction in weapons and to find alternative ways of settling disputes. In this article I revisit this proposition for a Peace-Industrial Complex.