Civil-Military Relations in Perspective

The topic of civil-military relations holds significant importance for academics, policymakers, military commanders, and serious students of public policy in both democratic and other societies. The post-Cold War and post-9/11 worlds have presented traditional as well as new challenges to the effective management of armed forces and defence establishments.

Further, the present century has witnessed a rising arc in the use of armed violence by non-state actors, including terrorists, affecting political dynamics considerably. Civil-Military Relations in Perspective focuses primarily on civil-military relations in the United States and their implications for US and allied security policies. However, other contributions in this volume emphasize the comparative and cross-national dimensions of the relationship between the use or threat of force and public policy.

Authors contributing to this study explore a wide range of issues, including: the contrast between theory and practice in civil-military relations; the role perceptions of military professionals across generations; the character of civil-military relations in authoritarian or other democratically-challenged political systems; the usefulness of business models in military management; the attributes of civil-military relations during unconventional conflicts; the experience of the all-volunteer force and its implications for US civil-military relations; and other related topics.

Contributors include civilian academic and policy analysts as well as military officers with considerable academic expertise and experience with the subject matter at hand.