Abstract

The military-industrial complex is defined as an changing coalition of groups,formal or informal,with vested psychological,moral,political and material interest centering around defense dollar.The groups include diverse members as Congressmen,officials,labor leaders,corporate executives,the executive officers,church spokespersons,university professors,and professional soldiers,along with a host of followers and families dependent upon them.The core of the complex is the unique relationship among national security departments,Congress,academic institutes and military industrial companies.It's different from the traditional business model.It is the product of the global expansion of US and the result of the evolution of American traditional political culture and political practice.

As a special political and economic force in American society,military-industrial complex emerged in the Cold War and has been playing a particular and profound role in American domestic politics and foreign policy.It helps us understand the policy-making process and the operation of contemporary American democratic politics to study the special interest group.The impacts of military-industrial complex upon American domestic politics and foreign policy is real,yet,indistinct because of its deep-rooted relations from top to bottom in American society and the secrecy of the sensitive weapon production and procurement system.For some reasons,there is a variety of resistance to such study in America.

This research centers on military-industrial complex's government relations,intending to unfold how the political and social relationship dominate other forces,shape the limited states to be increasingly military-style since the Second World War,as well as how it creates tension between domestic democracies and so called national security in American political framework.As a result,the military-industrial complex is not only one of the pillars of the American empire,but also one of the contributing factors for its ruin.

The military-industrial complex is the result of the Cold War as well as the evolution of American democratic system,in combination with the general public's fear towards the rise of political,economic and military forces and their collusion.The military-industrial complex as a super interest group has become such a big society that American society itself becomes a military-industrial complex.The military-industrial complex gets information and intelligence from Congress and the Executive branches and exerts its political influences through diverse channels under the democratic political framework,including various committee networks,financial institutions,political action committees,personal transfers,grass-roots movements,offices in Washington D.C.,advertising,entertainment,national strategy,weapon sales,military aids,military research and development,and various industry associations,etc.

The stability of American democratic order depends on the balance between conflicts and consensus.A stable democracy requires relatively moderate tension among the contending political forces.And political moderation is facilitated by the capacity of a system to resolve key dividing issues before new ones arise.However,differences and tension must be balanced by consensus regardless of whether they exist between different interest groups in society or between the state and society.A democratic order should have a mechanisms for seeking common ground from divisive issues and be good at finding consensus from differences,and using it to ease and resolve differences and conflicts.In other words,maintaining a balance between conflicts and consensus is the way to maintain the legitimacy of the system and maintain the development of politics and society.

The proposition leads to the finding that the military-industrial complex has a hugely negative impact on American democracy: first,it encourages the centralization of state power at the federal level,which is not conducive to the resolution of social conflicts within the democratic order.It also causes serious confrontation between liberalism and individualism,and poses threats to stable democracy.Second,it forms a close clique which excludes public participation and alternative perspectives.It monopolizes the debate on national security and weapon procurement,and confuses the boundaries between the public and private domains,thus eroding and shaking the foundation of democracy.Third,the military-industrial complex is becoming the root cause of violence at home and aboard which are threatening the stability and development of international democracy,international security order and global governance.

However,the military-industrial complex has two sides like a coin.It is one of the pillars of the stable democracy.On the one hand,the military-industrial complex,in the name of so called national security,maintains the stability and development of American democratic order in the world.On the other hand,the military-industrial complex supports American constitutional system and democratic order through all of the legal political channels.It operates within the democratic order and is in itself one of the interest groups within the society.The survival of the American Empire depends on the stability of American democracy; therefore,the military-industrial complex is not only one of the pillars of the Empire,but also one of the catalysts to its ruin.

Key words:Military-Industrial Complex; The Iron Triangle；Revolving Door