Technology And The State Term paper
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'Technology, above all else, has changed the nature of the state, not least in terms of making boundaries permeable'In discussing this statement I am going to discover whether technology is responsible for changing the nature of the state, but more specifically whether it has made boundaries more permeable. Although the statement holds the assumption that technology is the main factor of change, after reading several texts I have come to the conclusion that this belief is true, be it directly as a technological innovation or indirectly by how these innovations may influence other means of penetrating borders. The development of new technologies has for the best part of 150 years had a tremendous effect on society in general, and the world as a whole, from the development of the steam engine to the discovery of nuclear power, states have never been able to react the same. Of course, major technological advancement has been a phenomenon witnessed more frequently by the west, which of course initially made conflict between these countries more probable but ultimately more devastating, as vividly portrayed by WWI and WWII.
I will begin by discussing the first major age of change and development, in this case, the industrial revolution. It now seems that the industrial revolution heralded the beginning of a new system that would concentrate on continuing development and heightening technology, not least when the military could find uses for them. Industrialization in the mid-19th Century also brought a new way of social classification, the traditional way of owning land to increase status had been replaced by capitalism where it seemed the more you earned the higher in society you could climb. This was an incentive for industry owners to seek greater efficiency through development.
A number of factors had greatly changed the way the military could react by the beginning of the First World War. The birth of manufacturing had meant that uniforms, boots, guns could all be produced by the thousand. America had emerged as the forerunners of manufacturing and their civil war is described as 'the first industrialized war'. For the state it would be inevitable that they should get involved in industry because developments in industry brought about significant military applications.
For instance, the steam engine had brought trains, important for industry and trade as they could transport goods quicker, but also important for the military. They could now mobilize troops much easier than before and hopefully make better use of them being that traveling by train had been a less exhaustive experience. Add the development of the telegraph then mobilization of an army was frighteningly swift. Quite obviously the country that would could get as many troops as quickly as possible to the front line had an advantage over the opposition.
Not to be left at that we have the development of the internal combustion engine and the evolution of a car into a fully armored vehicle of war - the tank. By now technology had had a major effect on the nature of states not least in Nazi Germany under Hitler who employed the method of Blitzkrieg in Poland with amazing efficiency. Submarines had also made states feel uneasy, how could they feel secure when a fleet of enemy submarines could be a few miles off coast, armed and ready to fire? Of course maybe the most significant thing that had developed during the war was the airplane. The emergence of the airplane meant the need for completely new strategies for both attacking the enemy and defending yourself. Terrifyingly for the state they were now faced with the strong possibility of having their boundaries penetrated. This type of threat was much more difficult to respond to. How could the state provide a sense of security to the populace when boundaries were easily penetrated and answers elusive? War could now be staged by land, sea, or air - who's land, sea or air seemed irrelevant.
The direct application of these new machines was devastating but also had a huge effect on society. Such sudden change in technology meant that the very nature of war itself changed, targets changed. Boundaries were becoming increasingly permeable, and the fact that bombers could travel hundreds of miles brought these new targets into play that were traditionally out of reach. It was now evident to states that the factories where weapons were produced could be targeted, cutting off the supply at the root. Without new technologies these options would not be open to them and the state would not have to worry bout aerial strikes at the heart of their societies.
Increasingly throughout the Second World War society was the target, the potential for death in the inner cities was immense. World war two had turned out to be a war of society vs. society. Bombers could be sent by the thousand and...
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