Political Indecision and Military Muddle in an Age of Grand Strategy
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Irving Louis Horowitz
Classic writings on political decision making with respect to war traditionally emphasize grand strategies. But such European generated theories are often inapplicable in less developed areas of the world, and in which nation building remains suspect and incomplete. This article emphasizes the difficulty in policy approaches that rest on older doctrines of total war and well defined victory or defeat. The new 21st century “model” often admits only of political indecisions and military constraints. All sectors of advanced societies such as the United States are thus involved in issues such as traditional customs, militant religions, and socioeconomic alignments that limit military actions. While issue of war and peace remain intact, and in many instances protracted over time, the need for revised practices on the ground have become a central need and concern of economically advanced nations. This makes for a search of effective and appropriate ways for the conduct of humane military actions coupled with democratic civilian ambitions. Where such ends are not feasible, then caution should prevail.
©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
