A few very recent articles

1. Some important pieces on civil-military relations. Not endorsed as “received wisdom,” but as things worth reading and thinking about. A few very recent articles Two articles with which to start, both by Fred Hoffman and published at War on the Rocks. Essentially, they contain a lot of the big questions about strategy, policy, people, and war that we’re trying to explore historically in HI301: “A Second Look at the Powell Doctrine,” (20 February, 2014) http://warontherocks.com/2014/02/a-second-look-at-the-powell-doctrine/ “A New American Military Ethic,” (6 August, 2014) http://warontherocks.com/2014/08/a-new-american-military-ethic/ Tom Ricks, 21 April 2014, republished 20 August, “I think this is the fundamental problem in U.S. civil-military relations these days,” http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/20/i_think_this_is_the_fundamental_problem_in_us_civil_military_relations_these_days

2. Other pieces worth reading… • From International Security, Spring 2011, “The Right to Be Right: Civil-Military Relations and the Iraq Surge Decision,” http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/20803/right_to_be_right.html • Munson, “A Caution on Civil-Military Relations,” from Small Wars Journal, November 2012, http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/a-caution-on-civil-military-relations • Mackubin Thomas Owens, lecture at the USAFA, May 2013, “What Military Officers Need to Know about Civil-Military Relations,” http://www.fpri.org/articles/2013/07/what-military-officers-need-know-about-civil-military-relations • General Dempsey’s article in the Washington Post, 3/7/2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/general-dempsey-the-military-needs-to-reach-out-to-civilians/2013/07/02/b10c3bb0-e267-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html • Analysis of GEN Dempsey in the WP, 1/7/2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/gen-dempsey-winning-our-nations-wars-is-no-longer-enough/2013/07/01/7d005270-e03c-11e2-963a-72d740e88c12_story.html • Transcript of Sec State Kerry, Sec Def Hagel, and GEN Dempsey at Senate FRC hearing on Syria, 3/9/2013 (very important for context and content), http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2013/09/03/35ae1048-14ca-11e3-b182-1b3bb2eb474c_story.html • Gian Gentile (taught at USMA till retirement last year), on why GEN Dempsey was right to speak out on Syrian intervention, 16/9/2013 http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/listen-to-general-dempsey/ • A 2012 Article from Naval War College Review on American Civil-Military Relations and Samuel P. Huntington, who wrote one of the classic books on the subject, https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/a76922f1-797a-4d61-b30b-28eebd4cb9c2/American-Civil-Military-Relations--Samuel-P--Hunti • U.S. Army War College bibliography on officership and the profession, C-M Relations on page 8, http://www.carlisle.army.mil/library/bibs/Officership2013.pdf • MIT, open course on Civil-Military Relations from 2003; the readings are worth looking at. Also, the course addresses C-M Relations outside the U.S. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/political-science/17-584-civil-military-relations-spring-2003/index.htm • To round out, a rather strident article on the obsession with Sparta (though I might add a significant portion of American culture in general, not just military culture), http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/27/welcome_to_spartanburg_the_dangers_of_this_growing_american_military_obsession