The Civil-Military Thing: How Does a Soldier Get It Right

Abstract

The subject of civil-military relations is worthy of study by military and civilian leaders. Many individuals have attacked the current state of U.S. civil-military relations. Due to the foundational nature of civilian supremacy over the military in our American brand of democracy, these criticisms have ignited a spirited debate. It can be argued that the military leader can gain some useful knowledge of the character of balanced civil-military relations by focusing on the debate. However, instead of choosing which camp' he should join, it would be better for the soldier to build a theoretical base that gets at the central question, "How do we build and maintain a healthy, balanced civil-military relationship?" The purposes of this paper are to address the current challenges to civil-military relations and propose a soldier's model for the maintenance of a healthy civil-military relationship.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 04, 1999
Accession Number
ADA363886

Entities

People

  • Stephen M. Sittnick

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Operations
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Environment
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Law
  • Military Operations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Organizational Structure
  • Societies
  • Students
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Theoretical Analysis.