Bargaining with the Military: How Presidents Manage the Political Costs of Civilian Control

IF 4.8 1区 社会学 Q1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A. Payne
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract In an era of increased politicization of the military, there are powerful disincentives for commanders-in-chief to challenge the preferences of the senior military leadership. Even though presidents may have the constitutional “right to be wrong,” they require considerable political capital to test that proposition. Dominant normative theories of civil-military relations focus on ideal-type scenarios that do not reflect the messy, inherently political character of elite decision-making. A case study of civil-military dynamics during the Iraq War identifies four decision-making strategies that George W. Bush and Barack Obama used to avoid incurring a domestic political penalty for being seen to go against the preferences of the uniformed military. Drawing on declassified documents and dozens of interviews with former administration officials and top-ranking military leaders, the findings indicate that both administrations used these strategies during key episodes of civil-military friction in the Iraq War (the 2007 surge and the troop drawdown that followed). Scholars and practitioners should focus on strengthening civilian and military leaders' capacity to navigate the politics of national security decision-making and reconsidering conventional understandings of the apolitical role of the military.
与军方讨价还价:总统如何管理文官控制的政治成本
在军事日益政治化的时代,总司令挑战高级军事领导人的偏好存在强大的抑制因素。尽管总统可能拥有宪法赋予的“犯错的权利”,但他们需要相当大的政治资本来检验这一主张。军民关系的主流规范理论侧重于理想类型的场景,这些场景并不反映精英决策的混乱和固有的政治特征。对伊拉克战争期间军民关系动态的一个案例研究表明,乔治•w•布什(George W. Bush)和巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)采用了四种决策策略,以避免因被视为违背了军方的偏好而招致国内政治惩罚。根据解密文件和对数十名前政府官员和高级军事领导人的采访,研究结果表明,在伊拉克战争中军民摩擦的关键时期(2007年增兵和随后的撤军),两届政府都使用了这些策略。学者和实践者应该把重点放在加强文职和军事领导人驾驭国家安全决策政治的能力上,并重新考虑对军队非政治角色的传统理解。
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来源期刊
International Security
International Security Social Sciences-Law
CiteScore
7.40
自引率
10.00%
发文量
13
期刊介绍: International Security publishes lucid, well-documented essays on the full range of contemporary security issues. Its articles address traditional topics of war and peace, as well as more recent dimensions of security, including environmental, demographic, and humanitarian issues, transnational networks, and emerging technologies. International Security has defined the debate on US national security policy and set the agenda for scholarship on international security affairs for more than forty years. The journal values scholarship that challenges the conventional wisdom, examines policy, engages theory, illuminates history, and discovers new trends. Readers of IS discover new developments in: The causes and prevention of war U.S.-China relations Great power politics Ethnic conflict and intra-state war Terrorism and insurgency Regional security in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America U.S. foreign and defense policy International relations theory Diplomatic and military history Cybersecurity and defense technology Political economy, business, and security Nuclear proliferation.
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