
Choosing Your Battles
American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force
- 248 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Choosing Your Battles
American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force
About this book
America's debate over whether and how to invade Iraq clustered into civilian versus military camps. Top military officials appeared reluctant to use force, the most hawkish voices in government were civilians who had not served in uniform, and everyone was worried that the American public would not tolerate casualties in war. This book shows that this civilian-military argument--which has characterized earlier debates over Bosnia, Somalia, and Kosovo--is typical, not exceptional. Indeed, the underlying pattern has shaped U.S. foreign policy at least since 1816. The new afterword by Peter Feaver and Christopher Gelpi traces these themes through the first two years of the current Iraq war, showing how civil-military debates and concerns about sensitivity to casualties continue to shape American foreign policy in profound ways.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Chapter One Introduction
- Chapter Two The Civil-Military Opinion Gap over the Use of Force
- Chapter Three The Impact of Elite Veterans on American Decisions to Use Force
- Chapter Four Casualty Sensitivity and Civil-Military Relations
- Chapter Five Exploring the Determinants of Casualty Sensitivity
- Chapter Six Conclusion
- References
- Afterword
- Name Index
- Subject Index