| This dissertation focuses on two sets of issues relating to the US' post-World War II political-economic development. First, it analyzes the dynamic relationships between the state and social movements. Second, it examines the interrelationships between the US' militarism, racism and social welfare policies.;The dissertation's analyses show that social movements--i.e., the black liberation and antiwar movements in the 1960s and early 1970s, the New Right in the late 1970s and early 1980s--were conditioned by state policies embodied in the budget, and that these popular movements, in turn, created or restructured components of the budget. Thus, a full explanation of the development of either states or social movements requires an understanding of the dynamic relationships between them.;The study's analyses also demonstrate that the military budget constituted a perverse social democracy and had important ramifications for social welfare policy and the socio-economic status of African-Americans. By underwriting the income security and social services needs of broad segments of the American population, this "militarized social democracy" undermined crucial popular support for viable social democratic programs, especially an expanded welfare state. Moreover, the militarized social democracy disproportionately benefited white Americans, and thereby contributed to the continued economic and social subordination of African-Americans. Further, in combination with other structural barriers to their full participation in American life, blacks' exclusion from the militarized social democracy made them more dependent than whites on social welfare programs for their survival, and also made meaningful improvements in their socio-economic status contingent on the establishment of viable social democratic programs. However, blacks' reliance on state programs fueled whites' anti-welfarism and racism, thereby further undercutting support for the social democratic agenda. Thus, military spending undermined the development of the welfare state and perpetuated racial inequities in the US.;The study is a historical sociological analysis that relies primarily on the qualitative analysis of documents and reports of Executive departments and agencies and the Congress, studies by specialized issue organizations, the business and popular presses, and the pertinent sociological and related secondary literatures. It also employs quantitative analysis of Senate voting trends. |
