War profiteering

A war profiteer is any person who profits from selling weapons and other goods to parties at war, or who profits from the spoils of war.

Types of war profiteers

One can distinguish passive war profiteers from active war profiteers:

• Passive war profiteers make profits from a war without influencing the duration and/or outcome of a war.
• Active war profiteers, in addition to making profits from a war, have a vital interest in starting and prolonging wars in order to make or increase their profits.

One could make a distinction between individual war profiteers and profiteering organizations such as corporations and nations, but we must keep in mind that only a human being has the ability to make any decision.

Why study war profiteering?

The study of war profiteering could rightly start with the proposition that "War is Hell." The human being has an unlimited capacity to suffer, as do all animals. Men (for war has traditionally been the stronghold of the males) have devised countless ways to torture and kill each other, and modern technology has made the "art" of war hundreds of times more hideous than before. For some examples of the horrible effects of modern warfare, try doing a google image search on "radiation burns" or "torture victims" or "extreme birth deformities" or "rwanda genocide" or "Hiroshima victims" or any similar phrase.

Why study war profiteering? Perhaps enlightened self-interest says it best. If we are sane, we work to enjoy a lifestyle that we choose, and to prolong the enjoyment of life for as long as possible. Typically our lifestyle choices include sharing with others, and even raising children, and sanity requires that we "keep an eye out against poverty and war." (Socrates) Clearly sanity would require us to keep ourselves and our loved ones out of war zones as a matter of self-protection.

Men have justified warfare for centuries, and their justifications normally fall into two categories; first, self-protection (including protection of one's family, relatives, friends, and affinity groups), and second, protection of wealth and profits.

Is war profiteering inevitable?

World history presents powerful evidence that war is endemic to the human species, and thus that war profiteering is inevitable. A visit to any library or bookstore will demonstrate the powerful fascination that war exerts upon people, again primarily men. Another bit of evidence suporting the inevitability proposition is the fact that a nation like the United States, which has no credible military enemies, spends $400 billion dollars annually (2004) on weapons of war.

If we assumed that war is inevitable, then we would likely have to conclude that war profiteering is inevitable too. War necessarily involves metals, the stronger and harder the better, and explosives as well. Modern war has gulped massive quantities of petroleum and more recently uranium, both very expensive commodities. It is safe to say that any modern man who wishes to gain physical mastery over others will spend large quantities of money to achieve it. However, strong arguments can be made that war is not essential to human nature, and thus that war profiteering is not inevitable.