The Research Apparatus of U.S. Imperialism
“In order to administer an empire efficiently,it is necessary to construct an apparatus for collecting, analyzing and acting upon information concerning foreign territories. From the Roman to the British Empires, ruling elites have found it necessary to create institutions capable of supporting such operations, and to establish a professional caste skilled in the arts of language, foreign trade and international politics to conduct these activities. Without such an apparatus, no empire can deal with the human conflicts inherent in domination and exploitation.
Since 1900, and especially after World War II, the American power elite has become extremely conscious of the need to develop such a research apparatus to better manage the burgeoning U.S. empire. The elite’s consciousness has been reflected in the organization and operation of every major institution in the United States: the corporations, the agencies of government and labor unions have all been modified in the interests of overseas expansion. The academic world, in particular, has been reconstructed to aid in the administration of our new empire….
[The] spirit of cooperation that marks the operations of the research apparatus is not surprising when one discovers that the trustees of the universities themselves are more often than not the chairmen of the corporations that stand to profit most from the universities’ research activities. These interlocking relationships are characteristic of all major American universities, but they are particularly apparent in cases where large research installations have been erected: the nexus of Stanford University, the Stanford Research Institute, and the Stanford Industrial Park; the line of aerospace corporations along Massachussetts Route 128 and MIT’s Lincoln Labs; and similar linkages.”
Michael Klare,NACLA Newsletter, January 1968, Vol I, No. 10
available online from
THE ROCKEFELLER EMPIRE
NACLA Newsletter Dec 1969, Vol. 3, No. 2
