The concept of a secondary "state" that is driving government decision-making toward a specific set of outcomes is not new. While not using that specific term, Hobson (1902) wrote about the group who stood to profit from the 'Scramble for Africa" and other British imperialist pursuits. A quick read shows that things have not changed much in the 115 years since this was written:
Although
the new Imperialism has been bad business for the nation, it has been good
business for certain classes and certain trades within the nation. The vast
expenditure on armaments, the costly wars, the grave risks and embarrassments
of foreign policy, the stoppage of political and social reforms within Great
Britain, though fraught with great injury to the nation, have served well the
present business interests of certain industries and professions. …
If
the £60,000,000 which may now be taken as a minimum expenditure on armaments in
time of peace were subjected to a close analysis, most of it would be traced
directly to the tills of certain big firms engaged in building warships and
transports, equipping and coaling them, manufacturing guns, rifles, and
ammunition, supplying horses, wagons, saddlery, food, clothing for the
services, contracting for barracks, and for other large irregular needs.
Through these main channels the millions flow to feed many subsidiary trades,
most of which are quite aware that they are engaged in executing contracts for
the services. Here we have an important nucleus of commercial Imperialism. Some
of these trades, especially the shipbuilding, boiler-making, and gun and
ammunition making trades, are conducted by large firms with immense capital,
whose heads are well aware of the uses of political influence for trade
purposes.
These
men are Imperialists by conviction; a pitiful policy is good for them. With
them stand the great manufacturers for export trade, who gain a living by
supplying the real or artificial wants of the new countries we annex or open
up. Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, to name three representative cases, are
full of firms which compete in pushing textiles and hardware, engines, tools,
machinery, spirits, guns, upon new markets. The public debts which ripen in our
colonies, and in foreign countries that come under our protectorate or
influence, are largely loaned in the shape of rails, engines, guns, and other
materials of civilization made and sent out by British firms. The making of
railways, canals, and other public works, the establishment of factories, the
development of mines, the improvement of agriculture in new countries,
stimulate a definite interest in important manufacturing industries which feeds
a very firm imperialist faith in their owners.
The
proportion which such trade bears to the total industry of Great Britain is
very small, but some of it is extremely influential and able to make a definite
impression upon politics, through chambers of commerce, Parliamentary
representatives, and semi-political, semi-commercial bodies like the Imperial
South African Association or the China League. …
Hobson, J
(1902) Imperialism: A Study. Retrieved from http://files.libertyfund.org/files/127/0052_Bk.pdf
