Reconsidering American Civil-Military Relations

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grey Zone ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Asymmetric Warfare ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Civilian Leadership

This book explores contemporary civil-military relations in the United States. Much of the canonical literature on civil-military relations was either written during or references the Cold War, while other major research focuses on the post-Cold War era, or the first decade of the twenty-first century. A great deal has changed since then. This book considers the implications for civil-military relations of many of these changes. Specifically, it focuses on factors such as breakdowns in democratic and civil-military norms and conventions; intensifying partisanship and deepening political divisions in American society; as well as new technology and the evolving character of armed conflict. Chapters are organized around the principal actors in civil-military relations, and the book includes sections on the military, civilian leadership, and the public. It explores the roles and obligations of each. The book also examines how changes in contemporary armed conflict influence civil-military relations. Chapters in this section examine the cyber domain, grey zone operations, asymmetric warfare and emerging technology. The book thus brings the study of civil-military relations into the contemporary era, in which new geopolitical realities and the changing character of armed conflict combine with domestic political tensions to test, if not potentially redefine, those relations.

Remilitarization in Japan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Security ◽  
Constitutional Constraints ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Substantial Change

This chapter revaluates the utility of militarization as a framework for comprehending Japan’s changing military stance, and to challenge many current analyses that portray Japan’s security trajectory as one of essential continuity. The concept of militarization assists in identifying those military components—institutional and ideological in nature—present in all societies, including Japan, which are subject to contestation and alteration and open the way to substantive change in military security policy. The first section of the chapter outlines Japan’s self-declared and self-imposed constraints on its military posture in the immediate postwar and Cold War periods to establish the baselines against which any shifts toward remilitarization can be evaluated. The sections thereafter systematically assess these baselines and the degree of subsequent shift in the post–Cold War and contemporary periods—in terms of legal and constitutional constraints on military power, procurement of new military capabilities, increases in defense budgets, civil-military relations, the export of military technologies, and external and alliance military commitments. The concluding section, in assessing the overall trajectory of Japan’s military posture, and arguing that there has been substantial change rather than continuity, then considers the interrelationship with and challenges for the quality of Japanese democracy.

Strachan on Clausewitz: Setting Standards for Research and Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-574
Author(s):  
Sibylle Scheipers
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Publication History ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Cold War Era ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Strategic Studies

This article provides an appraisal of Hew Strachan’s impact on Clausewitz research since the early 2000s. It highlights that owing to the complexity of Clausewitz’s oeuvre and its publication history, scholarship on Clausewitz has to live up to demanding standards in order to be compelling. Strachan’s research on Clausewitz provides not only a revisionist reinterpretation that usher our understanding of the Prussian general into the post-Cold War era. It also sets out the relevant standards and exemplifies how particular challenges can be overcome. Conversely, Strachan has also used his understanding of Clausewitz as a framework to sketch an understanding of strategic studies as an interdisciplinary field that is founded in history and that takes Clausewitz’s trinity as a starting point for a more meaningful debate on civil-military relations.

Albania: Civil-Military Relations in the Post-Cold War Era

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerassimos Karabelias
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Officer Corps ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Communist State ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Relations

Albania’s peaceful exit from the communist world, the adoption of NATO-guided changes in its military institution, the establishment of closer ties with the European Union in conjunction with the strong presence of political leaders in the country’s domestic and internal affairs and its latest economic growth offer the impression of a successful transformation of a former Communist state to a Western-type democratic political model and civil-military relations. However, what is often overlooked is that the country’s political elites, emerging from a lengthy, deeply rooted tradition of clan and tribal power structures, have dominated Albanian politics and its civil-military relations, whether under a monarchical or a communist regime. By combining a pro-Western civilianization profile with an efficient control over Albania’s sociopolitical culture and economic development, these traditional elites permitted the officer corps to take the Western-prescribed necessary steps, during the post–Cold War period, as long as their interests were not deeply affected. The small size of the officer corps, the absence of semiautonomous economic power, as well as of corporate unity in conjunction with the existence of a servile political culture and ideology toward the domestic political elites have forced the country’s civil-military relations to resemble the Western ones only in appearance. The inability/unwillingness of these elites to take some steps towards the country’s social, economic and political advancement raises the question of whether both domestic and external forces are truly committed to democracy or are going to be totally satisfied with only the process of putting “old wine in new bottles.”

scholarly journals Paradoxes of Professionalism: Rethinking Civil-Military Relations in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Risa Brooks
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Civilian Control ◽  
Delegation Of Authority ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Civilian Leaders ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

The U.S. military's prevailing norms of professionalism exhibit three paradoxes that render the organization poorly suited to meet contemporary challenges to its nonpartisan ethic, and that undermine its relations with civilian leaders. These norms, based on Samuel Huntington's objective civilian control model, argue that the military should operate in a sphere separate from the civilian domain of policymaking and decisions about the use of force. The first paradox is that Huntingtonian norms, though intended to prevent partisan and political behavior by military personnel, can also enable these activities. Second, the norms promote civilian leaders’ authority in decisionmaking related to the use of force, yet undermine their practical control and oversight of military activity. Third, they contribute to the military's operational and tactical effectiveness, while corroding the United States’ strategic effectiveness in armed conflict. These tensions in Huntington's norms matter today because of intensifying partisanship in society and in the military, the embrace by civilian leaders of objective control and their concomitant delegation of authority in armed conflict to the military, and growing questions about the causes of the inconclusive outcomes of the United States’ recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is time to develop a new framework for military professionalism.

Mutiny in Africa, 1950–2018

2020 ◽  
pp. 073889422093488
Author(s):  
Rebecca Schiel ◽  
Jonathan Powell ◽  
Christopher Faulkner
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
True Condition ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Coups D'etat ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Data Collection Effort

The majority of literature on civil–military relations has focused on coups d’état. Yet, studying lesser forms of military insubordination can offer valuable insight into the true condition of states’ civil–military relations. This paper introduces a data collection effort on mutinies across Africa from 1950 to 2018, revealing several interesting trends. First, most African countries have experienced mutinies, with these events increasing in frequency in the post-Cold War period. Second, while mutinies rarely escalate into coups, they are associated with an increased likelihood of coups in the future. This dataset provides a useful tool to explore the complexity of states’ civil–military relations.

Worse Than a Monolith

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Coercive Diplomacy ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
Security Relations ◽  
Opposing Camp ◽  
The Cold War

In brute-force struggles for survival, such as the two world wars, disorganization and divisions within an enemy alliance are to one's own advantage. However, most international security politics involve coercive diplomacy and negotiations short of all-out war. This book demonstrates that when states are engaged in coercive diplomacy—combining threats and assurances to influence the behavior of real or potential adversaries—divisions, rivalries, and lack of coordination within the opposing camp often make it more difficult to prevent the onset of regional conflicts, to prevent existing conflicts from escalating, and to negotiate the end to those conflicts promptly. Focusing on relations between the Communist and anti-Communist alliances in Asia during the Cold War, the book explores how internal divisions and lack of cohesion in the two alliances complicated and undercut coercive diplomacy by sending confusing signals about strength, resolve, and intent. In the case of the Communist camp, internal mistrust and rivalries catalyzed the movement's aggressiveness in ways that we would not have expected from a more cohesive movement under Moscow's clear control. Reviewing newly available archival material, the book examines the instability in relations across the Asian Cold War divide, and sheds new light on the Korean and Vietnam wars. While recognizing clear differences between the Cold War and post-Cold War environments, the book investigates how efforts to adjust burden-sharing roles among the United States and its Asian security partners have complicated U.S. security relations with the People's Republic of China since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The U.S. Civil–Military Relations Gap and the Erosion of Historical Democratic Norms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marybeth P. Ulrich
Keyword(s):  
Civic Education ◽  
Military Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
American People ◽  
National Defense ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Volunteer Force ◽  
Democratic Norms ◽  
Elected Representatives

The gap between the American people and the United States military is growing, with implications for the preservation of democratic institutions. The gap has contributed to the erosion of democratic norms by negatively affecting perceptions of citizenship obligations and weakening the attachment to national institutions. Ironically, a feature of the gap is the rise of a “warrior caste” of men and women who self-select to join the all-volunteer force (AVF), leaving the remaining 99.5% of citizens to think that national defense is a concern for “other people.” With only 1 in 200 Americans directly involved in military service, the wars that the AVF serves in do not directly affect most Americans or their elected representatives. This indifference has led to perpetual wars with poor oversight, eroding the democratic norm of citizen oversight of and participation in the nation’s wars. The civil–military gap can be mitigated with a comprehensive expansion of programs that offer opportunities for military and national service, the adoption of more robust civic education in civilian and military education systems, and fostering a culture of defense among the citizenry.

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