American Civil-Military Relations

The Soldier and the State in a New Era

Suzanne C. Nielsen, Don M. Snider

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9780801895050
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: International Relations
• Index: Politics & International Relations

American Civil-Military Relations offers the first comprehensive assessment of the subject since the publication of Samuel P. Huntington's field-defining book, The Soldier and the State. Using this seminal work as a point of departure, experts in the fields of political science, history, and sociology ask what has been learned and what more needs to be investigated in the relationship between civilian and military sectors in the 21st century.

Leading scholars—such as Richard Betts, Risa Brooks, James Burk, Michael Desch, Peter Feaver, Richard Kohn, Williamson Murray, and David Segal—discuss key issues, including:
• changes in officer education since the end of the Cold War;
• shifting conceptions of military expertise in response to evolving operational and strategic requirements;
• increased military involvement in high-level politics; and
• the domestic and international contexts of U.S. civil-military relations.

The first section of the book provides contrasting perspectives of American civil-military relations within the last five decades. The next section addresses Huntington's conception of societal and functional imperatives and their influence on the civil-military relationship. Following sections examine relationships between military and civilian leaders and describe the norms and practices that should guide those interactions. The editors frame these original essays with introductory and concluding chapters that synthesize the key arguments of the book.

What is clear from the essays in this volume is that the line between civil and military expertise and responsibility is not that sharply drawn, and perhaps given the increasing complexity of international security issues, it should not be. When forming national security policy, the editors conclude, civilian and military leaders need to maintain a respectful and engaged dialogue.

American Civil-Military Relations is essential reading for students and scholars interested in civil-military relations, U.S. politics, and national security policy.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Are Civil-Military Relations Still a Problem?
• 3 A Broken Dialogue: Rumsfeld, Shinseki, and Civil-Military Tension
• 4 Before and After Huntington: The Methodological Maturing of Civil-Military Studies
• 5 Hartz, Huntington, and the Liberal Tradition in America: The Clash with Military Realism
• 6 Winning Wars, Not Just Battles: Expanding the Military Profession to Incorporate Stability Operations
• 7 Professionalism and Professional Military Education in the Twenty-first Century
• 8 Responsible Obedience by Military Professionals: The Discretion to Do What Is Wrong
• 9 The Military Mind: A Reassessment of the Ideological Roots of American Military Professionalism
• 10 Changing Conceptions of the Military as a Profession
• 11 Militaries and Political Activity in Democracies
• 12 Enhancing National Security and Civilian Control of the Military: A Madisonian Approach
• 13 Building Trust: Civil-Military Behaviors for Effective National Security
• 14 Conclusions
• Notes
• List of Contributors
• Index