The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle against US Military Posts (Transnational Institute)

This book examines US military bases across the globe including those in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. It documents the massive political, economic and environmental impacts that these outposts have and studies the movements and campaigns against them. US Military bases form a huge global system but are poorly understood by those not directly involved in their operation. The Pentagon is currently relocating many bases to fit with the strategies of pre-emption and resource control and this has intensified existing conflicts between the military and local people. The authors of this volume show how these seemingly local disputes are crucial to the success and failure of the American imperial project, and attempt to bring together the geographically scattered opposition movements to form a coherent campaign against the harmful effects of bases. A key title for students of anthropology and politics, this collection will also open the eyes of US citizens to the damage the American empire causes in allied countries as well as in its war zones. A quarter of a million U.S. troops are massed in over seven hundred major official overseas airbases around the world. In the past decade, the Pentagon has formulated and enacted a plan to realign, or reconfigure, its bases in keeping with new doctrines of pre-emption and intensified concern with strategic resource control, all with seemingly little concern for the surrounding geography and its inhabitants. The contributors in The Bases of Empire trace the political, environmental, and economic impact of these bases on their surrounding communities across the globe, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia, where opposition to the United States presence has been longstanding and widespread, and is growing rapidly. Through sharp analysis and critique, The Bases of Empire illuminates the vigorous campaigns to hold the United States accountable for the damage its bases cause in allied countries as well as in war zones, and offers ways to reorient security policies in other, more humane, and truly secure directions. Julian Aguon, Kozue Akibayashi, Ayse Gul Altinay, Tom Engelhardt, Cynthia Enloe, Joseph Gerson, David Heller, Amy Holmes, Laura Jeffery, Kyle Kajihiro, Hans Lammerant, John Lindsay-Poland, Catherine Lutz, Katherine McCaffrey, Roland G. Simbulan, Suzuyo Takazato, and David Vine. 'A quarter of a million U.S. troops are massed in over seven hundred major official overseas airbases around the world. In the past decade, the Pentagon has formulated and enacted a plan to realign, or reconfigure, its bases in keeping with new doctrines of pre-emption and intensified concern with strategic resource control, all with seemingly little concern for the surrounding geography and its inhabitants. The contributors in The Bases of Empire trace the political, environmental, and economic impact of these bases on their surrounding communities across the globe, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia, where opposition to the United States'presence has been longstanding and widespread, and is growing rapidly. Through sharp analysis and critique, The Bases of Empire illuminates the vigorous campaigns to hold the United States accountable for the damage its bases cause in allied countries as well as in war zones, and offers ways to reorient security policies in other, more humane, and truly secure directions'--Publisher's description. "A quarter of a million U.S. troops are massed in over seven hundred major official overseas airbases around the world. In the past decade, the Pentagon has formulated and enacted a plan to realign, or reconfigure, its bases in keeping with new doctrines of pre-emption and intensified concern with strategic resource control, all with seemingly little concern for the surrounding geography and its inhabitants. The contributors in The Bases of Empire trace the political, environmental, and economic impact of these bases on their surrounding communities across the globe, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia, where opposition to the United States' presence has been longstanding and widespread, and is growing rapidly. Through sharp analysis and critique, The Bases of Empire illuminates the vigorous campaigns to hold the United States accountable for the damage its bases cause in allied countries as well as in war zones, and offers ways to reorient security policies in other, more humane, and truly secure directions"--Publisher's description U.s. Foreign Military Base And Military Colonialism: Personal And Analytical Perspectives / Joseph Gerson -- U.s. Military Bases In Latin America And The Caribbean / John Lindsay-poland -- U.s. Nuclear Weapons Bases In Europe / David Heller And Hans Lammerant -- Iraq As A Pentagon Construction Site / Tom Engelhardt -- People's Movement Responses To Evolving U.s. Military Activities In The Philippines / Roland G. Simbulan -- Give Us Back Diego Garcia: Unity And Division Among Activists In The Indian Ocean / David Vine And Laura Jeffery -- Environmental Struggle After The Cold War: New Forms Of Resistance To The U.s. Military In Vieques, Puerto Rico / Katherine T. Mccaffrey -- Okinawa: Women's Struggle For Demilitarization / Kozue Akibayashi And Suzuyo Takazato -- Opposition To The U.s. Military Presence In Turkey In The Context Of The Iraq War / Ayse Gul Altinay And Amy Holmes -- Resisting Militarization In Hawai'i / Kyle Kajihiro. Edited By Catherine Lutz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Several hundred thousand U.S. troops are massed in over nine hundred official overseas bases around the world. This book traces the political, environmental and economic impact of these bases on their surrounding communities across the globe, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia, where opposition to the United States' presence has been longstanding and widespread, and is growing rapidly. Through sharp analysis and critique, the authors describe the vigorous campaigns to hold the United States accountable for the damage its bases cause in allied countries as well as in war zones, and offer ways to reorient security policies in other, more humane, and truly secure directions A comprehensive survey of the effect of US military bases abroad, including the movements against them.