Globalisation has created an interconnected world, but has not diminished violence, militarism and inequality. This book describes how the entrenched power of global elites has created a deadly cycle of violence, enacted through the military industrial complex.

Vijay Mehta shows how attempts at peaceful national development, environmental sustainability and human rights are routinely blocked by Western powers. He locates the 2008 financial crisis in US attempts to block China's model of development. He shows how Europe and the US conspire with regional dictators to prevent countries from developing advanced industries, and how this system has fed terrorism.

The Economics of Killing argues that a different world is possible, based on policies of disarmament, demilitarisation and sustainable development.