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Why do some states victimize noncombatants during civil war? Scholars have identified regime type, international norms, and battlefield conditions as important factors explaining variation in outcomes. Here I argue that understanding variation in civilian victimization requires the identification of the institutional interests of those in control of the state. Civilian victimization is likely when the military controls pre-war planning and execution because of the institutional goal of winning wars quickly and efficiently by attacking every major source of enemy power. This often includes noncombatants. Most civilian leaders' institutional goals, however, are centered around governance. Thus, these leaders prefer restraint from victimization because they often believe such barbarity will result in future difficulties for governance. I test my argument alongside others through a binary regression analysis of 103 conflict dyads between 1989 and 2010 and find that the variable for militarily dominated governments maintains significance across model specifications and features the largest effect size of any variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the significance of Turkey in current academic debates, particularly focusing on the country's political process and the authoritarian regime that has emerged in recent years. The special issue of the journal is divided into two parts, with the first part examining the early republican period and the second part exploring the transformations before and during the Erdoganist period. The articles cover a range of topics, including the economic congress of 1923, the role of ship-owners in nation-state building, the impact of secularism on various groups, the establishment of homeland security, the changing role of the peasantry, female employment, the transformation of traditional unions, the foreign policy of the AKP, the evolution of small businesses, the history of capitalism in Turkey, and the rise and decline of the AKP's authoritarian neoliberal order. The authors argue for a broader perspective and historical analysis to understand the current situation in Turkey. [Extracted from the article]

Within the broader context of securitized responses to Covid-19 globally, Uganda experienced an oversized military role, ranging from law-and-order and lockdown enforcement, to managing food-relief supplies, medical operations, and partisan political repression. What explains this excessive militarization? To address this poser, the article draws on secondary sources and key-informant interviews to test the hypothesis that military involvement in pandemic responses depends on pre-pandemic militarism. The findings reveal direct links between pre-crisis militarism and Covid-19 responses, contrary to the view that exceptionality and novelty of Covid-19 informed overly militarized responses. Through pandemic framing and institutional morphing, pre-pandemic militarism foregrounded military roles because Covid-19 provided Uganda's ruling elites with a public health pretext to heighten militaristic rule, clutch the political arena in the context of elections, and deepen military presence in civilian public health realms. This excessive militarization of public health seriously impacts civil–military relations, specifically command and control, reporting and accountability, and resources management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the varieties of civilian praetorianism or the different ways in which civilians enable and support military coups. It specifically argues that by shaping their access to different sets of resources, civilians' proximity to the political establishment and their level of social capital influence their method of support. Civilians linked to the political establishment wield resources better suited for enabling praetorianism through tactics like initiating or plotting coup conspiracies with military officers. Conversely, civilians with high levels of social capital hold resources valuable for consolidating praetorianism through tactics like providing post-coup support and neutralizing anti-coup opposition. Qualitative evidence from three coup episodes in Sudan demonstrates the argument's plausibility. By explaining the important variation in civilian capabilities and resources, this study advances research on civilian coup involvement, which—although understudied—is critical to understanding coup politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time of heightened sensitivity to the military’s role in national security and domestic politics, senior officers are more likely than ever to “play the neutral card” – i.e. to act in ways that simply emphasize their supposedly apolitical role. Two of the dominant schools of civil-military relations theory insist that this is virtually the only card officers can play, positing in effect that any political influence by officers on policy-making is inappropriate. However, a third tradition has long argued the opposite: officers do and should engage in consistent dialogue with civilian principals in the hope of producing better policy outcomes. This article adjudicates between the three perspectives, finding that while the third perspective is most persuasive, it too suffers from serious limitations. We provide a new perspective on how senior officers influence their political environments, highlighting their power and the range of options open to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All coups seek to topple the political leadership, but they differ in terms of their leaders. While soldiers spearhead a majority of coups, a small number is led by civilians. And whereas high-ranking officers are the largest group among coup leaders, mid- and low-ranking soldiers account for a substantial share of putsches. Several datasets have recently offered data on the identity and political aims of coup leaders, to study the origin and outcome of different types of coups. However, these datasets have important limitations in their scope and how they address differing organizational structures of militaries across countries and time. This article therefore introduces a novel dataset on the identity of the leaders of 474 coups from 1950 to 2020 that distinguishes between coups led by civilians and military officers, as well as between coups by junior, mid-ranking, and senior officers. We discuss how the dataset complements previous data, present patterns across time and space, and show that successful and failed coups by senior, mid-ranking, and junior officers entail different prospects for post-coup democratization. The article underlines the importance for refined empirical measures and theoretical arguments in coup research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the impact of retired general officers endorsing political candidates during elections. Topics include the increasing prevalence and public attention of these endorsements, the debate over whether such endorsements harm civil-military relations, and the need for further research to understand how these endorsements affect the perception of military non-partisanship and the profession overall.

The Middle East and North Africa, of which the southern and eastern Mediterranean sub-region constitutes the bulk of the population and territory, is the world's most securitized region. It is also the leading recipient of security assistance but provides the least security of any global region. A related paradox is that this region, the states of which are the world's least democratic, receives the bulk of its security assistance from democracies. This article draws upon the causes and consequences of these two paradoxes to investigate relationships between securitization, security systems, and insecurity in the Mediterranean and broader MENA region. These paradoxes are products of historical legacies and limited access orders that characterize the region's political economies. They are key drivers of 'Faustian Bargains' between providers and recipients of security assistance and the costs of those relationships. The article concludes with a review of proposals to improve the balance of costs and benefits of SA, recommending a dual strategy of seeking to reform recipients' civil–military relations while changing military roles and responsibilities of both partners in security assistance relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disaster response is a pathway for incorporating climate change principles into the framework of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus. However, the growing military presence in relief operations poses ethical, operational and political challenges. Based on the literature on green militarism and civil-military relations, a critical examination of the military expansion in disaster response highlights its potential to compromise the humanitarian principles underpinning the Triple Nexus. Given the unease already sparked within humanitarian and development circles by the inclusion of the peace pillar due to its association with notions of hard security, the current trend in disaster response may risk inadvertently promoting militarised aid within HDP programming. Focusing on the Philippines as a case study, the analysis enriches scholarly and policy debates on the Triple Nexus from a previously unexplored perspective and aims to open new research trajectories for further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines patterns and factors influencing U.S. civil-military relations interventions in developing countries. Drawing on theories of new clientelism and geopolitics, it proposes developing states’ political traditions and U.S. geostrategic interests jointly shape U.S. intervention policies through an interactive effect. Quantitative analysis of U.S. military assistance and engagement data across 97 developing countries (1990–2020) supports key hypotheses: U.S. civil-military intervention is higher in military-dominated polities and states of major geostrategic interest, with military political traditions amplifying geostrategic factors. Case studies of Egypt and India further reveal differentiated pathways of U.S. military influence across varying political systems. The findings provide new explanations of U.S. foreign military behavior, analytical perspectives on Third World military diplomacy, and insights for developing countries in responding to great power military pressures while preserving sovereignty and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representative opinion polls indicate that members of the U.S. public may hold dichotomous perceptions of their veterans. While the majority of the U.S. public appreciates and honors their veterans, they are also considered to suffer from war-induced trauma and physical disabilities. Victimizing attitudes toward the veteran population may result in stigmatization and a more difficult transition into civilian society. This may be particularly problematic for U.S. veterans who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as this younger veteran population needs to reintegrate not only into civilian society but also into civilian workplace settings. The present study aims to uncover and unravel underlying rationalities that justify heroizing and victimizing sentiments in relation to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. In order to delve beyond socially desirable reporting and cultural norms, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 29 individuals (20 non-veterans and 9 veterans) were conducted. Three themes were identified by thematic analysis: Theme 1 "Individual Understandings of the Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan" represents an underlying framework that tainted perceptions of Theme 2 "Conceptualizations of war, deployment, and violence" and Theme 3 "Evaluations of the veteran's personality." If the deployments were considered justified, then veterans were heroized, characterized with supreme altruistic traits when compared with civilians. Negative effects on health that were arbitrarily related to deployment experience were classified as short-lived. If the deployments were scrutinized, then veterans were considered as naïve victims of a deceitful government, suffering from long-term health problems. Importantly, as discussions surrounding the legitimacy of the deployments were context-dependent, the participants were able to hold perceptions of veterans as victims and as heroes side by side. In conclusion, the heroization and victimization of veterans may be the result of considering different viewpoints, elucidating diversity and access to equivocal information in an increasingly complex social world. Although the present findings may require further validation, they suggest that changing negative, stereotyping perceptions of veterans may require a coherent rationale for deployments and uniform mission objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Hamas terrorist atrocities of 7 October 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza and northern Israel, when hundreds of thousands of Israelis enlisted in all military units, the meaning of being a warrior and a teacher at the same time has intensified. The military impact on the performance of teachers and educators (men and women) who were called up to serve the IDF entails significant consequences. Though written while the war was still going on, this article will try to examine a variety of implications considering the preliminary data, about teachers who were former combatants and vice versa.This article demonstrates several points of view aboutthat introduce this bond, which particularly characterises Israeli students who intend to become teachers, by using their military skills through their pedagogical work. It also includes their involvement in the Gaza war and its effect on their skills and behaviour as students and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the Sudanese political economy from independence till after December 2018 revolution. The paper commences by examining the prominent aspects of Sudan's economic crisis, positing that its political and economic roots lie in Sudanese political economy since independence, characterized by three main elements: urban bias, accountant capitalism, and military dominance. The study analyzes unprecedented developments in Sudanese political economy after December 2018 revolution, which involve institutional bondage among these three elements. It concludes that these developments manifest in the institutional bondage between the Sudanese military and accountant capitalism, and in the formation of institutional bondage between rural elites, militias, and patterns of accountant capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How strongly embraced within the officer corps is the commitment to supporting and defending the Constitution and to the ethic of nonpartisanship? This article answers that question through a 2019/2020 survey of 1,470 service academy students, including with a list experiment. The results show that cadets engage in what we term "selective endorsement" of norms, whereby they endorse norms as long as they are not in tension with their partisan identities. In particular, the list experiment reveals that when provided an opportunity to obscure their preferences, many cadets supported following civilian orders, even those at odds with democratic traditions—and that partisan dynamics may play a role in determining how they respond. The article has important implications for scholarly research on norm robustness and socialization, as well as practical consequences for civil-military relations in light of ongoing challenges to democracy in the United States today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French Army has not always enjoyed a harmonious relationship with its political leadership. Its sobriquet, the 'Great Mute' is something of a misnomer, as it is an institution that has certainly made its voice heard at several junctures in modern French history. Recently, the two Tribunes des Militaires (soldiers' tribunes) expressed the fear among several retired and active officers and enlisted servicemen and women, that France is headed for 'ruin' and civil war. This study represents the first in-depth analysis of the tribunes, its connections to the far right, putschist pretentions and civil war rhetoric. This article positions these tribunes within the historical context of previous French military political interventions, examines its rhetoric and establishes the extent to which it presents a far-right sponsored call to military insurrection. This analysis is of importance, given the seriousness of the claims made in the tribunes and the central significance of civil-military relations for any state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the intersection of military command and civilian politics during the American Civil War by examining the polemical tenure of Union Army General Thomas Ewing Jr. Topics include Ewing's issuance of General Orders No. 13 that banished civilians from Missouri in 1863 as a tactic to keep guerrillas from relying on countryside farms for necessities, how the press covered Ewing's policy, and the history of the fraught relationship between U.S. military and civilian authority.

Students' relations with postindependence Ghanaian military regimes have generally been portrayed as positive, yet comparative analysis of the relational dynamics across regime types--military and civilian--is inadequate. This article addresses this knowledge gap using a historical content analytic approach based on original archival and interview data. We argue that strategic and group interests ambiguously influenced students' entanglement with military and civilian governments, though revolutions initially attracted more support because of their populist political ideologies and development aspirations. This fluctuating pattern of relations, which birthed Ghana's Fourth Republic, implies that students were concerned mainly with national development beyond ideologically oriented regime leanings. The article thus modifies the predominant scholarly view of African youth, which holds that students have aided or been predisposed to nondemocratic governance and political instability., Introduction Soon after the achievement of independence, most African states that adopted semblances of Western democracies succumbed to military and authoritarian regimes (Cabal and Daloz 1999, 5). Besides Botswana and [...]

One of the postulates of systems theory is the tendency of any system to seek a stable state and avoid chaos. Stability is associated with overcoming crises, which are considered obstacles to development. Crises can serve various functions: destructive, threatening the viability of the system; destructive, leading to further development; and crises that are merely disr uptions of equilibrium. In the context of transitioning from repelling armed aggression to ensuring military security in the post-war period, it is appropriate to describe the crisis phenomena and situations of the recovery period, which encompass the real crises of the recovery period. Special attention should be paid to the classification of crises, modeling their development, establishing crisis communications and decisionmaking in crisis conditions, developing state policy and crisis response strategies, as well as devising methods for crisis prevention. Situation centers play a key role in forecasting the security situation, preparing stabilization operations, and coordinating the actions of various security and defense structures. Their tasks include conveying decisions to personnel and the local population, organizing management and interaction, informing about the development of events, and controlling the execution of decisions. The centers also collect and analyze operational information for timely response to crisis situations. In legal science, the concept of a "crisis of the recovery period" is not widespread, but it may be useful for describing emergencies in the post-war period. The definition of such crises should consider the specific impacts of hazardous factors on national interests. The modern concept of national security of Ukraine envisages the integration of various security sectors, including economic, political, social, and legal aspects. According to legislation, the national security system in the recovery period should be an organized set of entities united by common goals and tasks regarding the protection of national interests. These entities participate in military-civil relations, coordinate their actions, and develop crisis response strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the special characteristics of the military professionalism of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Tentara National Indonesia, TNI). TNI, which once held strong political power during the Suharto era, was transformed into a professional military that follows the principle of civilian supremacy and has not been involved in politics since its military reform in 1998. It seems to have changed from a military of new professionalism that dominates the politics of the nation, to a military of old professionalism that focuses purely on defence missions. However, the TNI’s missions are not limited to national defence, as it also carries out non-military missions, such as territorial development (pembinaan teritorial, Binter). This paper uses qualitative data collected through interviews with relevant personnel of defence and security sectors. This paper analyzes the TNI’s extensive non-military missions and its organized structure that are the old system of the Suharto era, sometimes criticized from the framework of conventional, western military norms. As a result, I argue that this old system is effective in conducting operations and that the TNI’s professionalism is neither old, nor new, but what I call hybrid professionalism, which fits the Indonesian history and society.

The article examines why it was important to the modern republican Turkish state, which saw the non-Muslim minorities as a threat to its security and a potential source of fifth column activities, to propose their inclusion in the draft. In order to answer this question, the article explores the issue of the recruitment of the non-Muslim minorities as presented in the official protocols and in writings of the senior Turkish decision-makers who attended the Lausanne conference of 1922–23. The main argument of this article is that the introduction of non-Muslim conscription in modern Turkey was less an act of integration and more a contribution to two broader aims: demographic engineering to remove 'suspect' or 'unassimilable' national and religious minorities, and economic Turkification, which aimed to force transfer of property from non-Muslim into Muslim hands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, militaries have been highly visible elements in the response to health emergencies and in particular disease outbreaks. Although there has been a long tradition of civil–military collaboration in health, COVID–19 saw an unprecedented worldwide use of militaries which occurred within a permissive environment established by narratives of global health, humanitarian intervention and multi-sectorality. This creates a dilemma: militaries will likely be an important element in responding to a major health emergency and this risks not only militarizing health emergencies, but affects the balance between society and the military more generally. Moreover, the response to the COVID pandemic suggested that current emergency planning is often poorly prepared for the use of militaries in health crises, thereby reducing the effectiveness of a response. This article engages with how concerns over the securitization of health have evolved into concerns over militarization, and the question of how militaries might be used effectively in future health emergencies without risking the militarization of health or damaging civil–military relations more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article responds to the analysis about the Spanish Emergency Military Unit in the research note by Pérez et al. in Armed Forces & Society, which emphasizes the efficiency of the Spanish Emergency Military Unit and how it has enhanced the image of the Spanish Armed Forces. We believe that a more critical understanding of the development of this military unit is necessary, as its deployment pitfalls and the literature on civil–military relations were neglected. Consequently, four policy traps are identified: response to civilian emergencies has become a central task of the armed forces rather than an auxiliary role; behind the pragmatism of its employment, there is potential for a worsening of civil–military relations, as highlighted by the scholarly literature; there are serious inefficiencies in its organizational design, related to human and financial resources; and image improvement is an illusion, strongly conditioned by political cleavages, with potential long-term counterproductive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parliamentary oversight is a cornerstone of democratic control of the armed forces, but its influence on civil–military relations (CMR) remains underexplored. We argue that parliaments in transitioning democracies face unique structural challenges in developing robust oversight of the military compared to advanced democracies. We developed a typology of three distinctive types of parliamentary oversight and proposed that cooperative oversight potentially offers a solution to structural challenges faced by parliaments in transitioning democracies. In our case study of Indonesia, cooperative oversight promoted harmonious working relations between the Parliament and the military/executive, stabilizing CMR. However, cooperative oversight also stalled civil–military reforms, eroded democratic management of the defense sector, and reinforced an unhealthy dependence on the military to self-regulate and the President's appointment power of the armed forces' commander. Over the longer term, we believe that the Indonesian Parliament needs to incorporate a mix of oversight strategies and raise its institutional capacity to strengthen oversight of the defence sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influx of populism in Europe revived the values of illiberal, authoritarian government. This affects the democratic character of Civil–Military Relations (CMR) in the post-communist countries in particular. We analyzed the development of CMR in Czechia (1992–2022) under the influence of populism (2010–2022). Applying the CMR concept of the shared-democratic-values-perspective, our study provides empirical evidence that persistent shortcomings in formal institutional and informal socialization of Czech officers by values of democracy open a dangerous back door for spreading the values of military populism in the Czech Armed Forces. We argue that such development in the last 10 years has resulted into a formation of illiberal alliances between populist leaders and the military elite and poses a risk of the army being misused to politically support the authoritarian populist government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing theories of interaction between Congress and the Department of Defense (DOD) focus on elite-level principle-actor problems. However, the Department, as one of the most popular institutions in the United States, also has significant public appeal and maintains an active public affairs arm. This article builds on theories of bureaucratic reputation to argue that the DOD uses its public communications to advocate for its own budget. I leverage computerized text analysis to examine over 40,000 public facing documents published by the DOD since 2005. I find evidence that the DOD changed both the timing and the content of its public-facing communications to strategically argue for its budget. This is true during large budgetary shifts (like the U.S. budget sequester) and during the period of the year that the budget is under debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military organizations are generally defined by a "cult of the offensive." For cyberspace, this gives rise to an empirical puzzle, at least in the United States. What accounts for the early restraint and skepticism about cyber offense publicly expressed by many US military cyber leaders? In this article, I explore the US military's approach to cyberspace as a theory-developing case study. I examine more than a decade of public discourse among senior military leaders about when and how the military should employ cyber force. I argue that, in the formative years of US military cyber organization, the military's predisposition to the offense was challenged by other cultural and institutional influences, especially from the signals intelligence and strategic nuclear communities. Moreover, this influence shaped the public discourse even after US military cyber organizations gained greater autonomy and turned toward more objectively offensive strategies. This suggests implications for theory and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study brings the notion of informal institutions developed by Helmke and Levintsky's research agenda into the body of literature on civil–military relations. While acknowledged by the existing literature, the link between informal political-security connections and political transition remains largely undertheorised. Based on the case of post--invasion Iraq, I attempt to fill this gap, building a conceptual understanding of politician-officer personal connections and their role in defining political order in post-authoritarian and conflict settings. Data collected through fieldwork across Iraq helped to build a typology of the informal connections (communal ties, patronage ties or ideologies ties) and the institutional outcomes they generate over time after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime (ethno-sectarian state, a patronage state and a Shia-centred state). Personal connections have been relevant since the colonial era in Iraq. But the de-institutionalisation of Iraqi politics, accelerated by sanctions and the US-led invasion, make these connections crucially relevant for understanding the country's political transition since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The common history that brought these individuals together, the political order and the violent transition they shaped is an untold story that this study aims to tell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some winning rebel groups build loyal postwar militaries, while others do not? Surprisingly, though victorious rebel political and military elites cooperate successfully to seize sovereign power, they often struggle to share it. In roughly one-third of rebel regimes, military elites attempt to depose their leaders through military coups. I contend that postwar coup risk is primarily shaped by the wartime roles of rebel leaders. Rebel leaders that occupy a frontline role—exposing themselves to the hazards of the conflict theater—establish regimes less likely to suffer postwar coups. Frontline leaders win greater prestige and stronger legitimacy among military audiences. Further, frontline leaders' greater proximity to their military commanders allows them to develop institutional structures that more effectively reduce military autonomy. However, remote leaders, who are absent from the conflict theater, exercise weaker postwar control over the armed forces, resulting in greater coup risk. I find support for this theory using original cross-national data on all rebel regimes and the wartime roles of victorious rebel leaders between 1945 and 2010. A controlled case comparison of civil–military relations in two rebel regimes—Guinea-Bissau and Uganda—further illustrates the mechanisms tying wartime roles to postwar coups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Outsourcing National Defense: Why and How Contractors Are Providing Public Services" by Thomas C. Bruneau is a book that examines the use of contractors in the Department of Defense (DoD). The author argues that contracting is a significant part of the DoD budget but is understudied. The book analyzes the coherence of the DoD's strategy, the education and training of those involved in contracting, the implementation of contracts, oversight by Congress, and the usefulness of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The author concludes that contracting should be included in defense strategies, and recommends the use of Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) for acquiring new technologies. The book also emphasizes the need for strong oversight, particularly by Congress. While the book has limitations due to limited access to information, it fills a gap in the understanding of defense contracting and provides a foundation for future research. [Extracted from the article]

There is an ongoing dependence and tension between the military and the society it protects. This article examines the relatively new "military and society" field using the 50-year anniversary of the journal Armed Forces & Society as a focal point. This dynamic field is influenced by world events, cultural trends, and politics. Civil-military relations is at the heart of the discourse. An international and interdisciplinary journal, Armed Forces & Society reflects the changing nature of the field over the last 50 years. I have edited the journal since 2001 and bring this experience to the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the current challenges facing civil-military relations in the United States, including increased politicization of the military, declining public trust, and a recruiting crisis, emphasizing the importance of addressing these issues to maintain a healthy relationship between the military and political leaders. It discusses efforts by institutions like the U.S. Army War College's Civil-Military Relations Center to promote dialogue, research, and education on these topics,.

"Les camps de regroupement en Algérie: Une histoire des déplacements forcés (1954–1962)" by Fabien Sacriste is a meticulously researched history of the forced relocation of Algeria's rural population by the French military between 1954 and 1962. The author examines the bureaucratic infighting and difficult relationships between French military and civil authorities during this period. The book also explores the negative connotations associated with the term "camp de regroupement" and the government's response to the displacement of Algerians. The author sheds light on the relationship between military tactics and modernization efforts in Algeria, as well as the long-lasting impact of the forced relocations. [Extracted from the article]

A critical element in civil wars is military fragmentation. Yet, we have a limited understanding of why military elites fight in civil wars and on what side. In this article I develop a theory of the economic and professional motivations of military elites. I test this theory using the case of West Point graduates in the American Civil War. I argue that in addition to home state, economic and professional interests were a major influence on West Pointers. Graduates with connections to Southern cash crops were less likely to fight for the Union and more likely to fight for the Confederacy. Higher ranking graduates were more likely to fight for both sides, as they were better positioned to compete for promotion. I test this argument using a new dataset of more than 1000 West Point graduates' wartime allegiances and antebellum careers and find strong evidence in support of my expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article uses civil-military relations theory, an interdisciplinary academic theory, to inform a critique of the Supreme Court's military deference doctrine. National security leaders noted in late 2022 that we are in a moment where civil-military relations are backsliding. Civil-military relations theory requires robust civilian oversight of the military in a functioning democracy. The Article discusses the language and arguments that underpin the military deference doctrine and argues that using national security deference or congressional deference while focusing on civilian decision-making and the exercise of oversight of the military, rather than deference to military decision-making itself, would be a more responsible approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Representative opinion polls indicate that members of the U.S. public may hold dichotomous perceptions of their veterans. While the majority of the U.S. public appreciates and honors their veterans, they are also considered to suffer from war-induced trauma and physical disabilities. Victimizing attitudes toward the veteran population may result in stigmatization and a more difficult transition into civilian society. This may be particularly problematic for U.S. veterans who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as this younger veteran population needs to reintegrate not only into civilian society but also into civilian workplace settings. The present study aims to uncover and unravel underlying rationalities that justify heroizing and victimizing sentiments in relation to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. In order to delve beyond socially desirable reporting and cultural norms, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 29 individuals (20 non-veterans and 9 veterans) were conducted. Three themes were identified by thematic analysis: Theme 1 “Individual Understandings of the Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan” represents an underlying framework that tainted perceptions of Theme 2 “Conceptualizations of war, deployment, and violence” and Theme 3 “Evaluations of the veteran’s personality.” If the deployments were considered justified, then veterans were heroized, characterized with supreme altruistic traits when compared with civilians. Negative effects on health that were arbitrarily related to deployment experience were classified as short-lived. If the deployments were scrutinized, then veterans were considered as naïve victims of a deceitful government, suffering from long-term health problems. Importantly, as discussions surrounding the legitimacy of the deployments were context-dependent, the participants were able to hold perceptions of veterans as victims and as heroes side by side. In conclusion, the heroization and victimization of veterans may be the result of considering different viewpoints, elucidating diversity and access to equivocal information in an increasingly complex social world. Although the present findings may require further validation, they suggest that changing negative, stereotyping perceptions of veterans may require a coherent rationale for deployments and uniform mission objectives.

This book review discusses "Dragonslayer: The Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich" by Jay Lockenour. The author focuses on Ludendorff's postwar career as a political agitator and prolific author, particularly his promotion of the myth that Germany's army was undefeated in battle but betrayed in 1918. The review highlights Ludendorff's influence on Adolf Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg, as well as his involvement in failed coup attempts. The book also explores Ludendorff's personal beliefs, including his anti-Semitic views and his theory of a global Jewish conspiracy. The review concludes that Ludendorff had a significant impact on Hitler's worldview and the ideology of the Nazi regime. [Extracted from the article]

The article titled "Asian Military Evolutions: Civil-Military Relations in Asia" discusses the evolution of civil-military relations in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia. The authors note that earlier studies focused on how civilian politicians can control the military to promote democracy, but more recent analyses highlight the significant economic and political roles played by Asian militaries. The article also mentions the expansion of Asian armed forces' activities beyond the domestic sphere through regional and international defense diplomacy. The book reviews various national case studies from Southeast, Northeast, and South Asia, providing valuable insights into the continuing evolution of civil-military relations in the region. [Extracted from the article]

The military in Latin America has been extensively involved in pandemic relief operations. This paper analyses the impact of militarization of pandemic relief operations on human rights. It argues that not all militarization is equally harmful to individuals in the region. When troops assume responsibilities regarding medical care and logistical support, human rights violations do not follow. When involved in policing the stay-at-home orders, the extent of human rights violations is explained by the level of operational autonomy the military has in public security operations. The more autonomous the military, more likely abuses are to occur. Additionally, military exposure to judicial prosecution for human rights offenses contributes to the explanation. After gathering original empirical evidence from 14 Latin American democracies on military presence in pandemic relief, we draw our inferences from process tracing on four comparative case studies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador.

Historical and legal accounts of domestic military and militarized use abound, but there is no systematic normative treatment of the issue. This article argues that an important normative principle that governs domestic military use is that citizens ought not to be treated as enemies. Using examples drawn from the United States, it shows that apart from any instrumental considerations such as fears of military coups and excessive violence, domestic military use is prohibited in principle when it relates to citizens as enemies. To treat citizens as enemies undermines their standing as members of the state's political community, and so violates governments' duty to not commit expressive harms against them. This principle has implications for current dilemmas regarding domestic military use, as well as militarized domestic law enforcement. The latter gain the normative commitments of militaries as they militarize, and in so doing lose permissions to operate domestically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My goals in this paper are to elaborate further an approach to civil-military relations going beyond control to include effectiveness; and, to argue that outsourcing by the Department of Defense (DoD) results in opportunity costs making very difficult the implementation of the national security strategy of "great power competition." The current acquisition authority for outsourcing impedes DoD accessing cutting-edge technology generated by "startups." In an earlier era of strategic competition, the main US response was to create the National Aeronautics and Space Agency with a new acquisition authority – "other transaction authority" (OTA). In the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2018 Congress stipulated that OTAs should be the preference for DoD in science and technology and prototyping, and education in OTAs be provided. This education has not been implemented. Consequently, a key element of the US great power competition strategy, which is the acquisition of new technology, goes wanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]