Coup and Conscience: Approaching an American Threshold.
Abstract
This study examines conditions which are influencing the American military to approach a behavioral threshold in civil-military relations. This threshold is a point of departure from traditional subordinated behavior. At the threshold a divergence is forecast toward either: (1) direct intervention into government (coup d'etat), or (2) institutional autonomy within government (substantive behavior). The central issue is an unresolved relationship between temporary partisan civilian regimes and enduring military professionalism. Research is focused on the influences of a professional heritage and on contemporary environmental stress upon military behavior in American civil-military relations. Research reveals that perceptions of regime legitimacy significantly affect the liklihood of crossing the American threshold. Key variables in the contemporary environment are found to be: (1) a definition of professionalism weighted with national vs. regime loyalty, and (2) a perception by the military of an accelerating external threat to national survival which is not perceived by the society it serves. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 06, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA093988
Entities
People
- Theodore M. Moscheau
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College