The American Soldier after the Cold War: Towards a Post-Modern Military?
Abstract
The hallmark of the modern military was that of an institution legitimated in terms of values and norms based on a purpose transcending individual self- interest in favor of a presumed higher good. Members of the American military were often seen as following a calling captured in words like "duty, honor, and country." With the end of conscription and the advent of an all-volunteer force, supply and demand factors of the marketplace enter the late modern military. Distinctive military values still predominate, but occupational incentives of the marketplace came to compete with normative considerations of an institution. The postmodern model, however, implies much more. The structure, makeup, and purpose of the armed forces changes as well as the values. The basic point is that a postmodern military ultimately derives from the decline in the level of threat to the nation and, in the American case certainly, the rise in identity politics based on ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. The social sciences can come to grips with constantly changing realities only by recasting conceptual frameworks. Of course, experience teaches us that it would be unwise to claim an indefinite life expectancy for any new paradigm. But when reality makes the postmodern framework obsolete, so be it. For the foreseeable future, however, it appears to be a good guidepost to armed forces after the Cold War. We finish with a caveat, a speculation, and a conclusion. The caveat is not to take for granted that the movement toward a postmodern military will continue into the future. The speculation is that we may be moving into an era in which a future conflict might occur between a military system anchored in traditional social forms (with relatively low technology) and one more postmodern with high technology. The form of social organization might become more important than the level of technology.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA354194
Entities
People
- Charles Moskos
Organizations
- Northwestern University