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THE RISE OF THE GLOBAL DOMINANCE GROUP THE RISE THE GLOBAL Group DOMINANCE Neo-conservatives within the American ruling class are intent on expanding the power and control of the military- industrial complex in their quest for world domination. he leadership cl in the United States is now dominated by a neo- conservative group of people with the shared goal of asserting US military power worldwide. This global dominance group, in cooperation with major military contractors, has become a powerful force in world military unilateralism and US political processes. This research study is an attempt to identify the general parameters of those who are the key actors supporting a global dominance agenda and how collectively this group has benefited from the events of September 11, 2001, and irregularities in the 2004 presidential election. This study examines how interlocking public—private partnerships, involving the corporate media, public relations firms, military contractors, policy elites and government officials, jointly support a US military global domination agenda. We ask the traditional sociological questions regarding who wins, who decides and who facilitates action inside the most powerful military-industrial complex in the world. A long thread of sociological research documents the existence of a dominant ruling class in the United States, which sets policy and determines national political priorities. The American ruling class is complex and inter-competitive, maintaining itself through interacting families of high social standing who have similar lifestyles, corporate affiliations and memberships in elite social clubs and private schools.! The American ruling class has long been determined to be mostly self-perpetuating,* maintaining its influence through policy-making institutions such as the National Manufacturing Association, National Chamber of Commerce, Business Council, Business Roundtable, Conference Board, American Enterprise Institute, Council on Foreign Relations and other business-centred policy groups.* These associations have long dominated policy decisions within the US government. C. Wright Mills, in his 1956 book The Power Elite, documented how World War II solidified a trinity of power in the US that comprised corporate, military and government elites in a centralised power structure motivated by class interests and working in unison through "higher circles" of contact and agreement. Mills described how the power elite were those "who decide whatever is decided" of major consequence.* These higher circle decision-makers tended to be more concerned with interorganisational relationships and the functioning of the economy as a whole rather than with advancing their particular corporate interests respectively.’ The higher circle policy elites (HCPE) are a segment of the American upper class and are the principal decision-makers in society. While having a sense of "we-ness", they tend to have continuing disagreements on specific policies and necessary actions in various sociopolitical circumstances.* These disagreements can block aggressive reactionary responses to social movements and civil unrest, as in the cases of the labour movement in the 1930s and the civil rights movement in the 1960s. During these two periods, the more liberal elements of the HCPE tended to dominate the decision-making process and supported passing the National Labor Relations and Social Security Acts in 1935 as well as the Civil Rights and Economic Opportunities Acts in 1964. These pieces of national legislation were seen as concessions to the ongoing social movements and civil unrest, and were implemented without instituting more repressive policies. However, during periods of external threats represented by US enemies in World War Tand World War II, HCPEs were more consolidated. It was in these periods that more conservative/reactionary elements of the HCPE were able to push their agendas more by Peter Phillips, Bridget Thornton and Celeste Vogler © 2006 From the web page: http://www. projectcensored.org/ downloads/Global_Dominance_ Group.pdf by Peter Phillips, Bridget Thornton and Celeste Vogler © 2006 From the web page: http:/Awww.projectcensored.org/ downloads/Global_Dominance_ Group.pdf NEXUS * 25 9/11 WARNINGS AND ELECTION IRREGULARITIES IN CONTEXT OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com