Empire’s Labor: The Global Army That Supports U.S. Wars

Adam D. Moore

Published by Cornell University Press 2019

Empire’s Labor

The Global Army That Supports U.S. Wars

Adam D. Moore
Funded by: UCLA

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501716393

Overview
Contents

About this book

In a dramatic unveiling of the little-known world of contracted military logistics, Adam Moore examines the lives of the global army of laborers who support US overseas wars. Empire's Labor brings us the experience of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who perform jobs such as truck drivers and administrative assistants at bases located in warzones in the Middle East and Africa. He highlights the changes the US military has undergone since the Vietnam War, when the ratio of contractors to uniformed personnel was roughly 1:6. In Afghanistan it has been as high as 4:1. This growth in logistics contracting represents a fundamental change in how the US fights wars, with the military now dependent on a huge pool of contractors recruited from around the world. It also, Moore demonstrates, has social, economic, and political implications that extend well beyond the battlefields.

Focusing on workers from the Philippines and Bosnia, two major sources of "third country national" (TCN) military labor, Moore explains the rise of large-scale logistics outsourcing since the end of the Cold War; describes the networks, infrastructures, and practices that span the spaces through which people, information, and goods circulate; and reveals the experiences of foreign workers, from the hidden dynamics of labor activism on bases, to the economic and social impacts these jobs have on their families and the communities they hail from. Through his extensive fieldwork and interviews, Moore gives voice to the agency and aspirations of the many thousands of foreigners who labor for the US military.

Thanks to generous funding from UCLA and its participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

Author / Editor information

Adam Moore is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is author of Peacebuilding in Practice. Follow him on X @ConflictGeo.

Reviews

Jennifer Mittelstadt, Professor of History, Rutgers University:

I can't think of any book about America's current global military conflicts that I've learned more from than Empire's Labor. Moore combines geography, history, ethnography, and political science in a sophisticated and readable analysis about the role of everyday people from all over the world who support American military logistics.

Catherine Lutz, Brown University, author of The Bases of Empire:

Based in intensive on-the-ground research, this rich and remarkable book gives us a new way to understand the current everywhere war through the lens of the contract labor and migrations from poor countries that makes it possible. Acutely analyzed, Moore's book will be a foundational text for understanding contemporary war and providing insight into labor's pushback.

David Vine, Professor of Anthropology, American University, author of Base Nation:

Empire's Labor is a beautifully written, essential book exposing the labor and labor exploitation underpinning the military industrial complex, US empire, and the corporations fueling permanent war.

Moore's book also opens a space for geographers to intervene in the intellectual project of building a more explicitly spatial theory of empire: one that foregrounds how empire-building has historically been grounded in the geographical management of bodies, populations, and circulations, not only at the "macroscales of policy and strategy", but also in the intimate spaces of everyday life. Moore's work, I think, presents a compelling case for why it is essential for geographers to be in conversation with such debates.

Empire's Labor inverts the story commonly told about private military companies in the 21st century. The book presents a provocative argument that is supported by original research including interviews with the people who fill these jobs and analysis of contracts and other relevant documents. It is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the transnational market for force that relies upon an additional private market.

Adam Moore has undertaken detailed research, including interviews with workers, to explore the labor force buttressing the U.S. military. He traces patterns of recruitment, finds evidence of exploitative and discriminatory labor practices, and explores how the military's recruitment of legions of workers affects their countries of origin.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
1. Military Contracting, Foreign Workers, and War Open Access Download PDF	1
Part 1. HISTORIES
2. From Camp Followers to a Global Army of Labor Open Access Download PDF	17
3. Colonial Legacies and Labor Export Open Access Download PDF	35
4. The Wages of Peace and War Open Access Download PDF	49
Part 2. ROUTES
5. Supplying War Open Access Download PDF	67
6. Assembling a Transnational Workforce Open Access Download PDF	89
7. Dark Routes Open Access Download PDF	105
Part 3. BASE LIFE
8. Activism Open Access Download PDF	131
9. Relations Open Access Download PDF	149
10. Home Open Access Download PDF	174
11. Empire’s Labor Open Access Download PDF	191
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	197
Notes Open Access Download PDF	199
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	217
Index Open Access Download PDF	241

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 264
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 6
- Images: 3
- Tables: 3
- Other: 3 b&w halftones, 6 maps, 3 charts
Keywords: Iraq; Afghanistan; military contractors; US military policy; foreign workers; labor; war; empire; logisitcs

eBook

Published: November 15, 2019
ISBN: 9781501716393