The Costs of War for American Democracy

Dr. Jennifer Greenburg (Lecturer in International Relations, University of Sheffield)

Friday 13th March 2026, 1 to 2.30pm

Rendall Seminar Room 4

This talk begins from the present moment of political crisis in the United States. For the last 15 years, the Costs of War project at Brown University has shed light on the economic, human, environmental, and social costs of US wars and military spending. Today, many of these costs are relevant to the rise of authoritarianism within the United States. Drawing on a multi-year collaborative study with the Costs of War project that has sought to deepen public inquiry into everyday understandings of war and militarism, this talk places ethnographic findings into conversation with Gramscian geographies to ask how “common sense” perceptions of militarism relate to the unfolding crisis of US hegemony. By elaborating what Gramsci called a “politico-military relation of force,” this talk will develop a conjunctural analysis of US militarism to consider the challenges of militarism and authoritarianism today.

As part of "Critical Theory, Critical Practice" Seminar Series of the Power, Space, and Cultural Change (PSCC) Research Cluster