Standardizing Empire
The U.S. Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism
Book •
Patrick Chung's Standardizing Empire examines how the U.S.
military's continuous global deployments and base network during the early Cold War turned it into a leading economic actor.
Focusing on South Korea between the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Chung traces how U.S.
military procurement, infrastructure projects, and standards fostered a new economic system—military-industrial capitalism—that reshaped governments, corporations, and labor.
He connects these processes to the rise of major South Korean firms like Hyundai, Hanjin, and POSCO, showing their early ties to military contracting and their subsequent global expansion.
The book argues that the U.S.
military's standard-setting and procurement practices had wide-ranging, often unintended, consequences, including contributing to South Korea's economic rise and U.S.
industrial decline.
Chung combines military, economic, and labor history to illuminate the structural origins and long-term effects of a U.S.
-centered capitalist order tied to military power.
military's continuous global deployments and base network during the early Cold War turned it into a leading economic actor.
Focusing on South Korea between the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Chung traces how U.S.
military procurement, infrastructure projects, and standards fostered a new economic system—military-industrial capitalism—that reshaped governments, corporations, and labor.
He connects these processes to the rise of major South Korean firms like Hyundai, Hanjin, and POSCO, showing their early ties to military contracting and their subsequent global expansion.
The book argues that the U.S.
military's standard-setting and procurement practices had wide-ranging, often unintended, consequences, including contributing to South Korea's economic rise and U.S.
industrial decline.
Chung combines military, economic, and labor history to illuminate the structural origins and long-term effects of a U.S.
-centered capitalist order tied to military power.
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Miranda Melcher
Patrick Chung, "Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)
Mentioned by 
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Miranda Melcher
Patrick Chung
Patrick Chung, "Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)
