Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
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Damon Coletta
The resurgence of American civil-military relations scholarship over the past twenty years has been led by political scientists from the subfield of International Relations and American military sociologists. Samuel Huntington's seminal work, The Soldier and the State (1957), laid the foundation for considering civil-military affairs as a major influence on sound strategic policy. By recommending autonomy for a separate sphere of military operations, it also threw down the gauntlet for structuring a cohesive society that could encompass both liberal values and the military profession. To this point the political science subfield of American Politics has remained aloof from the fray. Were American Politics to engage civil-military relations in earnest, there would likely follow an important recasting of civil-military relations scholarship, with greater emphasis on the fluidity of institutional patterns and the kind of political concessions required from all parties—executive, legislative, and military—to maintain healthy civil-military relations under the Constitutional separation of powers.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Military in American Politics
- Article
- Civilian Control and the Constitution
- Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
- The Changing of the Guard: The National Guard's Role in American Politics
- Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
- A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
- The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
- The Politics of Military Bases
- Presidents and Military Command
- Joining Forces: Bridging the Civil-Military Divide
- Review
- Review of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
- Review of Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System
- Review of Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Military in American Politics
- Article
- Civilian Control and the Constitution
- Scholarship on Strategic Studies and Civil-Military Relations: Is American Politics the Neglected 'Poor Relation'?
- The Changing of the Guard: The National Guard's Role in American Politics
- Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
- A Political History of the All-Volunteer Army
- The Pendulum Swings: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters
- The Politics of Military Bases
- Presidents and Military Command
- Joining Forces: Bridging the Civil-Military Divide
- Review
- Review of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
- Review of Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System
- Review of Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate
