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Accounting for war

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  • Michele Chwastiak
  • Glen Lehman

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which accounting has helped to rationalize and normalize violence and how this has contributed to the acceleration and expansion of war. It is argued that accounting is a product of the “social imaginary” of modernity which projects a brutal attitude towards others by instrumentalizing relationships. Accounting’s reliance on instrumental rationality and economic efficiency provides the ideological justification for destroying the environment and others. Accounting’s role in perpetrating war and warlike behaviors is demonstrated in relation to our war with the environment, the expansionistic logic of capitalism, dehumanization and distance, globalization, the silent war of economic sanctions and the extent to which war is good for business.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Chwastiak & Glen Lehman, 2008. "Accounting for war," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 313-326, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accfor:v:32:y:2008:i:4:p:313-326
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2008.09.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew, Jane & Cortese, Corinne, 2013. "Free market environmentalism and the neoliberal project: The case of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 397-409.
    2. Paul Diaconu, 2017. "From The Accounting of War to the Accounting of Peace: Putting Bricks for a New Environmental Accounting. A Critical Analysis," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 107-131, March.
    3. Lehman, Cheryl R., 2013. "Knowing the unknowable and contested terrains in accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 136-144.
    4. Chwastiak, Michele, 2015. "Commodifying state crime: Accounting and “extraordinary rendition”," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Oakes, Helen & Oakes, Steve, 2012. "Accounting and marketing communications in arts engagement: A discourse analysis," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 209-222.
    6. Agyemang, Gloria & Lehman, Cheryl R., 2013. "Adding critical accounting voices to migration studies," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 261-272.
    7. Noguchi, Masayoshi & Nakamura, Tsunehiko & Shimizu, Yasuhiro, 2015. "Accounting control and interorganisational relations with the military under the wartime regime: The case of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's Nagoya Engine Factory," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 204-223.
    8. Lehman, Glen, 2010. "Perspectives on accounting, commonalities & the public sphere," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(8), pages 724-738.
    9. Donovan, Claire & O’Brien, Dave, 2016. "Governing culture: Legislators, interpreters and accountants," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 24-34.
    10. Lehman, Cheryl R. & Hammond, Theresa & Agyemang, Gloria, 2018. "Accounting for crime in the US: Race, class and the spectacle of fear," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 63-75.
    11. Chwastiak, Michele, 2013. "Profiting from destruction: The Iraq reconstruction, auditing and the management of fraud," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 32-43.
    12. Merkl-Davies, Doris M. & Koller, Veronika, 2012. "‘Metaphoring’ people out of this world: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a chairman's statement of a UK defence firm," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 178-193.

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