'Living whole lives in the midst of a death machine': A feminist socio-ecological critique of American military hegemony

Full spectrum dominance characterizes American military hegemony in the post-Cold War period. As articulated in Joint Vision 2010 issued in 1996 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, full spectrum dominance names the creation of "a force that is dominant across the full spectrum of military operations---persuasive in peace, decisive in war, preeminent in any form of conflict." This project explores the development of this doctrine since the end of the Cold War in 1989, and argues that full spectrum dominance is the governing ideology of American society in the era of neo-liberal globalization. Using a multi-disciplinary approach the author attempts to elaborate the complex, interwoven network of military, defense, corporate, technological, and ideological forces and figures shaping American military hegemony. Full spectrum dominance is the operative concept for the new American militarism of the twenty-first century.; The second part of this dissertation provides a feminist socio-ecological appraisal of the doctrine of full spectrum dominance. Herpel employs the work of German feminist political and activist theologian Dorothee Soelle to formulate a strategy for "living whole lives in the midst of a death machine." Soelle's concept of the death machine serves as the critical lens by which full spectrum dominance is evaluated. Her vision is singular in its ability to name the demonic forces in military-dominated societies and to unmask the political apathy and individual impotence displayed in the matrix of military hegemony. The author argues that the military-industrial-corporate power at the heart of full spectrum dominance disables our moral agency to create just, peaceful, and sustainable societies. The aim of this text is to propose a reinvigorated political theology using the example of Dorothee Soelle as an effective, hopeful counterforce to the devastating power of the American death machine.