“Immaculate War”: Constraints on Humanitarian Intervention

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 55-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin L. Cook
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Military Personnel ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
American Military ◽  
Political Constraints ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
The Military

In recent years, American military forces have been deployed in an ever-expanding array of humanitarian, peacekeeping, peacemaking, and nation-building operations. In practice American forces have often been reluctantly committed, and almost always with an extreme emphasis on force-protection and the avoidance of American casualties. Often this issue is discussed in the framework of perceived political constraints on American use of the military – in terms of how many casualties the American public will accept in exchange for a given mission. Beneath the level of the political constraints on American leaders, there lies a deeper tension having to do with the implicit moral contract between the United States and its military personnel. Although military personnel are required to follow all legal orders, morally the traditional contract between soldier and state rests on shared assumptions about the purposes for which national militaries will and will not be used.

Ajax in America, or Catharsis in the Time of Terrorism

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-319
Author(s):  
Matthew Roberts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Military Personnel ◽  
Military Service ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
American Military ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Military

Originally funded by the US Department of Defense in 2009, Theater of War Productions’ first project, Theater of War, performs dramatic readings of Ajax at military bases, hospitals, and academic institutions throughout the United States. Developed by Bryan Doerries, Theater of War brings awareness to the epidemic of suicide and other forms of violence committed by American military service members in the wake of the United States’ so-called ‘war on terror’. But like Ajax, American military personnel typically turn to violence only after being betrayed by the institutions that they served. This article follows how Ajax’s more modern manifestation disrupts the tragic protagonist’s status as a sacrificial victim whose death precipitates tragedy’s cathartic effect, and challenges what René Girard calls the ‘scapegoat mechanism’ and its socio-political function. It argues that Ajax’s appearance as a cathartic figure in American society provokes spectators and artists to reckon with the conditions that can cause military personnel to act violently, and inspires protests against broader hegemonic socio-political structures and the military culture that sustains them. Matthew Roberts is Assistant Professor and Librarian for Comparative and World Literature, English, and Drama at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

scholarly journals The Convergence of Military Conduct and Policing in Israeli-Controlled Territories

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nir Gazit ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Brutality ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

The murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the United States in May 2020 and the subsequent turmoil, as well as the violence against migrants on the US-Mexican border, have drawn major public and media attention to the phenomenon of police brutality (see, e.g., Levin 2020; Misra 2018; Taub 2020), which is often labeled as ‘militarization of police’. At the same time, in recent years military forces have been increasingly involved in policing missions in civilian environments, both domestically (see, e.g., Kanno-Youngs 2020; Schrader 2020; Shinkman 2020) and abroad. The convergence of military conduct and policing raises intriguing questions regarding the impact of these tendencies on the military and the police, as well as on their legitimacy.

“Standing Tall and Seeing Far”

2021 ◽  
pp. 277-296
Author(s):  
Rush Doshi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Institutions ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Economic Level ◽  
Financial Power ◽  
The Military

Chapter 12 examines the “ways and means” of China’s global grand strategy of expansion, discussing in concrete terms how it is building forms of control globally while weakening those of the United States. It examines this effort across three domains of statecraft, describing how Beijing has put forward global institutions and illiberal norms at the political level, sought to seize the “fourth industrial revolution” and weaken US financial power at the economic level, and increasingly acquired global capabilities and facilities at the military level—all as part of a broader effort to achieve its nationalistic vision of rejuvenation and displace US order.

American Military History: A Very Short Introduction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph T. Glatthaar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Military History ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
American Military ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
The Military

American Military History: A Very Short Introduction outlines the forces shaping the American military for the past 400 years. Since the colonial period, the United States has struggled to balance standing armed forces with citizen soldiers and sailors. Technological developments and two world wars forced the military to embrace professionalism and its increased obligations. The United States emerged from World War II in a strong position but failed to recognize the limits of its power, a legacy that some might say continues. Recent wars highlight some of the problems of a volunteer-dominated force. To succeed, the American military needs improved communication, understanding, and support.

scholarly journals Military cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Vietnam (1969-1973)

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. first
Author(s):  
Le Thi Nhuong
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

President M. Richard Nixon took office in the context that the United States was being crisis and deeply divided by the Vietnam war. Ending the war became the new administration's top priority. The top priority of the new government was to get the American out of the war. But if the American got out of the war and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) fell, the honor and and prestige of the U.S will be effected. Nixon government wanted to conclude American involvement honorably. It means that the U.S forces could be returned to the U.S, but still maintaining the RVN government in South Vietnam. To accomplish this goal, Nixon government implemented linkage diplomacy, negotiated with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Paris and implemented "Vietnamization" strategy. The aim of the Vietnamization was to train and provide equipments for the RVN's military forces that gradually replace the U.S. troops, take responsibility in self-guarantee for their own security. By analyzing the military cooperation between the United States and the RVN in the implementation of "Vietnamization", the paper aims to clarify the nature of the "allied relationship" between the U.S and the RVN. It also proves that the goal of Nixon's Vietnamization was not to help the RVN "reach to a strong government with a wealthy economy, a powerful internal security and military forces", served the policy of withdrawing American troops from the war that the U.S could not win militarily, solving internal problems but still preserving the honor of the United States.

The Political Economy of the Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States

1985 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Baack ◽  
Edward Ray
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War I ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
The Military

Despite the attention given by scholars to the military-industrial complex few studies have attempted to pinpoint and explain its origin. In this paper we argue that the coalescing of business, military, and political interest groups in support of a military build-up in the United States during peacetime occurred in the years between the Civil War and World War I. It was during this period that we observe the roots of institutional arrangements between the military and industry for the purpose of large-scale weapons acquisitions.

The Latin American Military Establishment: Some Thoughts on the Origins of its Socio-Political Role and an Illustrative Bibliographical Essay

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
Frederick M. Nunn
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
American Military ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Military ◽  
Fixed Period ◽  
Specific Country

Historians from the United States have studied the Latin American military using two principal approaches: in broad, topical studies dealing with the socio-political role of the military, i.e. armies, from colonial times to the present and in monographic works dealing thematically with the political role of the military in a specific country during a specific time. Neither approach boasts a defintive work. Certainly not the former, for the role of the Latin American military is simply too big to be dealt with between the covers of a single volume; nor the latter, because of the necessary exclusivism inherent in dealing with one nation-one period. A third approach, the multinational treatment of the military in Latin America during a fixed period exists, but to date few such works are in print.

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