DOCSLIB.ORG

Today's Military

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

MilitaryCover 10/21/10 3:12 PM Page 1 TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future MILITARY: TODAY’S THE CENTER ON LAW AND SECURITY AT THE NYU SCHOOL OF LAW TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 1 Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 2 The transcripts herein have been edited – the original audio from the conference is available for free download via the Center on Law and Security’s podcast series on iTunes. The speakers herein do not represent the Center on Law and Security. Cover image: Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison Image accompanying Executive Director’s introduction by Guido Mannucci copyright © 2010 by the Center on Law and Security Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 3 THE CENTER ON LAW AND SECURITY AT THE NYU SCHOOL OF LAW TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future April 24, 2009 Editor in Chief: Karen J. Greenberg Editor: Jeff Grossman Copy Editor: Danielle Haas Lead Research: John Viola Research: Jack Berger, Danielle Haas, Liz Oliner, Maggie Reeb, Dominic Saglibene Design: Wendy Bedenbaugh Special thanks to Vincent Viola and Virtu Management for making this conference series possible Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 5 While much of the public discussion of the U.S. military in recent years has focused on U.S. strategies and encounters in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are broader – and equally urgent – issues concerning the future of our armed services that warrant examination not only by our uniformed and civilian leaders but by the nation as a whole. The Center on Law and Security convened its conference “Today’s Military: It’s Challenges, Missions, and Future” as a step towards raising public awareness of these momentous debates. At issue are the matters of mission and method, of composition and goals. Who serves in our military and how the military interfaces with civilian society and with other governmental departments are as important to understand as the likely long-term consequences of transforma- tions in the military’s resources. Ultimately, it is essential for civilians to understand the unique challenges that face those who serve in the military and for the military to understand the importance of establishing a dialogue with civilians, both those in government and those in the private sector. The answers to these questions for present-day America are intimately related to the many policy choices that lie on the horizon in considering the funding, staffing, and training of the armed services. For example, in pursuing counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, how does the ideal division of labor between the military, the State Department, and nongovern- mental organizations differ from what is realistically possible? Further, to what extent should we anticipate that future conflicts will also entail a counterinsurgency mission? What are the roles of the National Guard and Reserves? Are the current educational opportunities available for the U.S. military in need of reform? These questions can only be answered through informed debate, requiring public attention and participation. The conference’s participants have generously shared their thoughts, their doubts, their hopes, and the challenges they foresee. We hope that the proceedings herein will serve as a starting point for a better understanding of the challenges that confront both the U.S. military and American society as a whole as it enters the 21st century. Karen J. Greenberg, Executive Director Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 7 Table of Contents TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future Participant Biographies 8 Keynote Address, by Gen. John Abizaid, U.S. Army (ret.) 14 Civilian/Military Relations Now Panelists: Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army (ret.); Phillip Carter; W. Patrick Lang; Suzanne Nossel Moderator: Karen J. Greenberg 20 The Military’s Makeup: Who Serves Today Panelists: James Jacobs, Timothy Nichols, Kathy Roth-Douquet, Frank Schaeffer, Shanea Watkins Moderator: Elizabeth Rubin 34 Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. Military: How the Wars Have Shaped the Armed Services Panelists: Eric Greitens, Mark Jacobson, Fred Kaplan, John Nagl Moderator: George Packer 46 About the Center on Law and Security 61 Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 8 Participant Biographies; April 24, 2009 Gen. John P.Abizaid retired from the United and Coalition forces in Combined Forces States Army in May 2007 after 34 years of Command-Afghanistan as part of Operation active service. After graduating from the Enduring Freedom. For 19 months in this United States Military Academy at West Point, position, he was responsible to U.S. Central he rose from second lieutenant of infantry to Command for regional efforts in Afghanistan, four-star general. At the time of his retirement, most of Pakistan, and the southern parts of he was the longest-serving commander of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Gen. Barno has United States Central Command, with respon- recently been appointed as the Chairman of sibility for an area spanning 27 countries in the Advisory Committee on Operation Iraqi the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Horn of Africa. Units under his command Veterans and Families by Secretary of have included the 1st Infantry Division, a Veterans Affairs James Nicholson. He holds brigade in the 82nd Airborne Division, and an M.A. in national security studies from two Ranger companies. Gen. Abizaid worked Georgetown University and is a graduate of on the Joint Staff three times, the last as the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Director. He studied at the University of College and the U.S. Army War College. Jordan in Amman, holds a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard Phillip Carter is an attorney practicing gov- University, and is widely considered to be an ernment contract and national security law expert in the field of Middle Eastern affairs. with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. Prior, Gen. Abizaid serves as the Distinguished he served as an officer in the U.S. Army, Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at including nine years of active and reserve West Point. Through his consulting company, service with military police and civil affairs JPA Partners LLC, Gen. Abizaid advises small units. In 2005-‘06, he deployed to Iraq with businesses through Fortune 500 companies the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, where he nationally and internationally, and serves as a served as an advisor to the Iraqi police. He is board member for both USAA and RPM, Inc. a founding member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and recently served as Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army (ret.) is the National Veterans Director for the Obama director of the Near East South Asia Center presidential campaign. His national security for Strategic Studies at National Defense practice includes appellate work in the land- University. Subsequent to his selection to mark cases FAIR v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Major General in 2001, he served as Rumsfeld, in which he authored amicus briefs. Commanding General, United States Army Carter has contributed articles to Slate, The Training Center and Fort Jackson. During this New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and assignment, he deployed to Hungary in 2003 Washington Monthly, among others, and has as the Commanding General of Task Force also appeared as an expert on CNN, MSNBC, Warrior with the mission to train the free Iraqi National Public Radio, and PBS’s The forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Gen. Barno deployed to Afghanistan in October 2003, commanding over 20,000 U.S. 8 TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 9 Karen J. Greenberg is the Executive Director the Center for the Study of Ethics and Human of the Center on Law and Security. She is the Values at Washington University, where he author of The Least Worst Place: teaches on public service, ethics, and leader- Guantanamo’s First 100 Days (Oxford ship. University Press, 2009), co-editor with Joshua Dratel of The Enemy Combatant Papers: James Jacobs is the Warren E. Burger American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Professor of Constitutional Law and the Terror (Cambridge University Press, 2008) Courts and Director of the Center for and The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Research in Crime and Justice at the NYU Ghraib (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Law School. His doctoral dissertation, editor of the books The Torture Debate in Stateville: The Penitentiary in Mass Society America (Cambridge University Press, 2006) (1977), a classic in penology, is still assigned and Al Qaeda Now (Cambridge University in classrooms around the country. Since com- Press, 2005), and editor of the NYU Review of ing to NYU, Prof. Jacobs has convened the Law and Security. She is a frequent writer, monthly Hoffinger Criminal Justice commentator, and lecturer on Guantanamo, Colloquium. He has published fourteen books detention, torture, terrorism trials, and other and more than 100 articles on such topics as issues related to the war on terror. Her work prisons and imprisonment, drunk driving, has been featured in The Washington Post, The corruption and its control, hate crime, gun Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco control, and labor racketeering. Prof. Jacobs Chronicle, The Nation, The National Interest, frequently involves law students in his Mother Jones, TomDispatch.com, and on research projects. For example, he co-authored major news channels. Busting the Mob: U.S. v. Cosa Nostra (1994) with law students Christopher Panarella and Eric Greitens has worked as a humanitarian Jay Worthington III and co-authored Gotham volunteer, documentary photographer, and Unbound: How NYC Was Liberated from the researcher in Rwanda, Cambodia, the Gaza Grip of Organized Crime (1998) with law Strip, and elsewhere.
Recommended publications
  • Ken Guindon Has Written a Well-Documented Account of His Theological Foray Into the Liturgical Churches That Is Both Relevant and Insightful

    Ken Guindon Has Written a Well-Documented Account of His Theological Foray Into the Liturgical Churches That Is Both Relevant and Insightful

    Ken Guindon has written a well-documented account of his theological foray into the liturgical churches that is both relevant and insightful. His impeccable scholarship and convincing argumentation demands the attention of everyone enamored with Catholicism or Orthodoxy. This is a book that needed to be written, and we should be grateful that one so competent and intelligent has done just that. More than a mental exercise or academic investigation, the substance of this book stems from the crucible of personal experience. Sharing personal lessons from his cross-cultural immersion into sacerdotalism, he attacks no straw men, but carefully and candidly documents ecclesiastical distinctions long recognized, but frequently overlooked. Like David returning from the Philistines, the author has returned to the evangelical fold with a greater appreciation of the gospel. More pioneer than prodigal, the author “came to his senses” with a reaffirmation of faith that is both inspiring and sobering. We welcome him back with honor and kudos for a sensitive critique of Orthodoxy and Catholicism that is both transparent and courageous. —Stephen Brown Professor of Bible and History, Shasta Bible College and Graduate School Because of a number of recent accounts of evangelicals joining the Roman Catholic or the Eastern Orthodox Church, this is an important and much-needed book. Through the examination of church history, theology and Scripture, Ken Guindon shares his spiritual journey and explains why he returned to evangelical Christianity. His study is fair-minded and well-written, and provides a sound defense for his decision. —Edmond C. Gruss, Professor Emeritus, The Master’s College This is a very pertinent book for our time when many prize church history and personal experience above Biblical truth in their search for spiritual vitality.
  • Tell Me How This Ends Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the “Forever War” in Afghanistan

    Tell Me How This Ends Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the “Forever War” in Afghanistan

    JULY 2019 Tell Me How This Ends Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the “Forever War” in Afghanistan AUTHOR Mark F. Cancian A Report of the CSIS INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM JULY 2019 Tell Me How This Ends Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the “Forever War” in Afghanistan AUTHOR Mark F. Cancian A Report of the CSIS International Security Program Lanham • Boulder • New York • London About CSIS Established in Washington, D.C., over 50 years ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to providing strategic in sights and policy solutions to help decisionmakers chart a course toward a better world. In late 2015, Thomas J. Pritzker was named chairman of the CSIS Board of Trustees. Mr. Pritzker succeeded former U.S. senator Sam Nunn (D-GA), who chaired the CSIS Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2015. CSIS is led by John J. Hamre, who has served as president and chief executive officer since 2000. Founded in 1962 by David M. Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke, CSIS is one of the world’s preeminent international policy in stitutions focused on defense and security; regional study; and transnational challenges ranging from energy and trade to global development and economic integration. For eight consecutive years, CSIS has been named the world’s number one think tank for defense and national security by the University of Pennsylvania’s “Go To Think Tank Index.” The Center’s over 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look to the future and anticipate change.
  • Battlefields and Boardrooms: Women's Leadership in the Military and Private Sector

    Battlefields and Boardrooms: Women's Leadership in the Military and Private Sector

    Battlefields and Boardrooms JANUARY 2015 Women’s Leadership in the Military and the Private Sector By Nora Bensahel, David Barno, Katherine Kidder, and Kelley Sayler Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the many people who contributed their time and energy to help bring this report to publication. We would like to thank our CNAS colleagues senior fellow Phil Carter and research intern Sam Arras for their important contributions throughout the development of the report. We thank Dafna Rand for managing this report’s publication and for her substantive editorial comments. We thank all of our other CNAS colleagues who provided valuable feedback on draft versions of the report. Outside of CNAS, we thank Lewis Runnion and Bank of America for their gener- ous support for this project. We thank the organizers and sponsors of the Cornell University Women Veterans Roundtable, the U.S. armed forces, and several Fortune 500 companies for generously sharing their expertise, insights, and people for interviews. We particularly thank the current and former executive level women leaders we interviewed for this report. We also thank the dozens of dedicated professionals from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, active and retired, who shared their insights and perspectives. We offer a special thanks to Liz Fontaine for her creative layout design. The authors alone are responsible for any error of fact, analysis, or omission. Cover Image U.S. Army Spc. Rebecca Buck, a medic from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, provides perimeter security outside an Iraqi police station in the Tarmiya Province of Iraq, March 30, 2008.
  • Trump's Generals

    Trump's Generals

    STRATEGIC STUDIES QUARTERLY - PERSPECTIVE Trump’s Generals: A Natural Experiment in Civil-Military Relations JAMES JOYNER Abstract President Donald Trump’s filling of numerous top policy positions with active and retired officers he called “my generals” generated fears of mili- tarization of foreign policy, loss of civilian control of the military, and politicization of the military—yet also hope that they might restrain his worst impulses. Because the generals were all gone by the halfway mark of his administration, we have a natural experiment that allows us to com- pare a Trump presidency with and without retired generals serving as “adults in the room.” None of the dire predictions turned out to be quite true. While Trump repeatedly flirted with civil- military crises, they were not significantly amplified or deterred by the presence of retired generals in key roles. Further, the pattern continued in the second half of the ad- ministration when “true” civilians filled these billets. Whether longer-term damage was done, however, remains unresolved. ***** he presidency of Donald Trump served as a natural experiment, testing many of the long- debated precepts of the civil-military relations (CMR) literature. His postelection interviewing of Tmore than a half dozen recently retired four- star officers for senior posts in his administration unleashed a torrent of columns pointing to the dangers of further militarization of US foreign policy and damage to the military as a nonpartisan institution. At the same time, many argued that these men were uniquely qualified to rein in Trump’s worst pro- clivities. With Trump’s tenure over, we can begin to evaluate these claims.
  • Read the Transcript

    Read the Transcript

    A Deeper-Look: How military and development actors share the battlespace February 2020 Patrick Fine and Lieutenant General David Barno, USA, Retired Page 1 of 19 [Music] Patrick Fine: As we enter the 2020s, we see a world of growing great power competition where the effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent and where non-state actors threaten sovereign states and national governments. We've seen more migration than ever before in history over the last few years, something we've explored in depth in previous podcasts, and we're seeing how these same factors fuel conflict and threaten longstanding international arrangements. Voiceover: A Deeper Look. Exploring what works and what doesn't in development, and the changes we can make together to turn ideas into action. Patrick Fine: Welcome, listeners. I'm Patrick Fine, CEO of FHI 360 and host of A Deeper Look. This season, we're taking a deeper look at the trends, ideas and forces that will shape the future of development. Today, I'm joined by Lieutenant General David Barno to explore how evolving security challenges will shape the way we think about and address human development needs. General, welcome to the podcast. Gen. David Barno: It's great to be here, Patrick. Patrick Fine: General, even as the world has grown more prosperous, we're seeing complex human development challenges, particularly in places affected by conflict. In our last episode, we had Masood Ahmed from the Center for Global Development, and he observed that a rising tide has lifted many boats, but there are places where the tide does not reach and those are characterized by fragility, instability, and conflict.
  • How to Acquire an Orthodox Phronêma in the West: from Ecclesiastical Enculturation to Theological Competence

    How to Acquire an Orthodox Phronêma in the West: from Ecclesiastical Enculturation to Theological Competence

    Copyright © 2019 Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies. All Rights Reserved Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Vol. 58 (2017) Nos. 1–4, pp. 251–279 How to Acquire an Orthodox Phronêma in the West: From Ecclesiastical Enculturation to Theological Competence Augustine Cassidy The Eastern churches have much to offer the West. By way of examples, I might list dignified and solemn worship, fi- delity to the apostles and their successors, a living witness of saints, rich piety, exuberant joy, irreproachable theology, mys- ticism grounded in a holistic view of this good creation, time- honoured disciplines for spiritual development, aesthetics that make present the holiness of God, ancient principles that lead to union with God, a profound sense of communal identity, compassionate understanding of sins coupled with the recogni- tion that sin is not central to human life, courage and perseve- rance in the face of oppression even unto martyrdom, unflin- ching opposition to heresy, and access to a wealth of theology not otherwise available. These blessings are not necessarily all equally available, nor are they presented as such by Eastern Christians, nor indeed are they all mutually consistent. Some are probably aspirations rather than realities. This is, in effect, to admit that my list is synthetic, uncritical, and indicative of what people have claimed to find in the Eastern churches. And a similar list could assuredly be populated with problems en- demic to the Eastern churches that no Westerner would find appealing or attractive in the least. But I begin with a register of the blessings that, having freely received, Eastern Christians freely give, since my purpose in this paper is to analyse some aspects of Western conversions to Eastern Christianity.
  • Lessons-Encountered.Pdf

    Lessons-Encountered.Pdf

    conflict, and unity of effort and command. essons Encountered: Learning from They stand alongside the lessons of other wars the Long War began as two questions and remind future senior officers that those from General Martin E. Dempsey, 18th who fail to learn from past mistakes are bound Excerpts from LChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: What to repeat them. were the costs and benefits of the campaigns LESSONS ENCOUNTERED in Iraq and Afghanistan, and what were the LESSONS strategic lessons of these campaigns? The R Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University was tasked to answer these questions. The editors com- The Institute for National Strategic Studies posed a volume that assesses the war and (INSS) conducts research in support of the Henry Kissinger has reminded us that “the study of history offers no manual the Long Learning War from LESSONS ENCOUNTERED ENCOUNTERED analyzes the costs, using the Institute’s con- academic and leader development programs of instruction that can be applied automatically; history teaches by analogy, siderable in-house talent and the dedication at the National Defense University (NDU) in shedding light on the likely consequences of comparable situations.” At the of the NDU Press team. The audience for Washington, DC. It provides strategic sup- strategic level, there are no cookie-cutter lessons that can be pressed onto ev- Learning from the Long War this volume is senior officers, their staffs, and port to the Secretary of Defense, Chairman ery batch of future situational dough. The only safe posture is to know many the students in joint professional military of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and unified com- historical cases and to be constantly reexamining the strategic context, ques- education courses—the future leaders of the batant commands.
  • Future of Defense Task Force Report 2020 Cover Photo Credit: NASA Future of Defense Task Force

    Future of Defense Task Force Report 2020 Cover Photo Credit: NASA Future of Defense Task Force

    draft Future of Defense Task Force Report 2020 Cover photo credit: NASA Future of Defense Task Force FUTURE OF DEFENSE TASK FORCE September 23, 2020 The Honorable Adam Smith Chairman House Armed Services Committee 2216 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable William “Mac” Thornberry Ranking Member House Armed Services Committee 2216 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry: Thank you for your support in standing up the Future of Defense Task Force. We are pleased to present you with our final report. Sincerely, Seth Moulton Jim Banks Chair Chair Future of Defense Task Force Future of Defense Task Force Susan Davis Scott DesJarlais Member of Congress Member of Congress Chrissy Houlahan Paul Mitchell Member of Congress Member of Congress Elissa Slotkin Michael Waltz Member of Congress Member of Congress Future of Defense Task Force Table of Contents PROLOGUE ............................................................................................... 1 TASK FORCE MEMBERS ........................................................................ 3 FINDINGS .................................................................................................. 5 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................... 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................... 13 EVIDENCE .............................................................................................. 21 EMERGING
  • The Seven Deadly Sins of Defense Spending

    The Seven Deadly Sins of Defense Spending

    RESPONSIBLE DEFENSE SERIES JUNE 2013 The Seven Deadly Sins of Defense Spending By David Barno, Nora Bensahel, Jacob Stokes, Joel Smith and Katherine Kidder About the Report “The Seven Deadly Sins of Defense Spending” is part of an ongoing program called Responsible Defense at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). The program examines how the United States should maximize its national security in an era of defense spending reductions. The program published its first report, “Hard Choices: Responsible Defense in an Age of Austerity,” in October 2011 and its second report, “Sustainable Pre-eminence: Reforming the U.S. Military in a Time of Strategic Change,” in May 2012. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the many talented people who contributed to this report. We thank Michèle Flournoy, Rudy DeLeon, Russell Rumbaugh, Todd Harrison and Travis Sharp for serving as reviewers. We also thank Matthew Leatherman and Howard Shatz for their thoughtful insights. We thank Shawn Brimley for providing editorial guidance throughout the process. We thank Phil Carter, Jason Combs, Kelley Sayler and April Labaro for their research contributions. We thank Liz Fontaine for imparting her creativity to the report’s design, and we thank Kay King and Will Shields for helping to spread our message. Their assistance does not imply any responsibility for the final product, which rests solely with the authors. A Note about Funding Some organizations that have business interests related to the defense industry support CNAS financially, but they pro- vided no direct support for the report. CNAS retains sole editorial control over its research and maintains a broad and diverse group of more than 100 funders including foundations, government agencies, corporations and private individuals.
  • Revitalizing America's Military Officer Corps

    Revitalizing America's Military Officer Corps

    FEBRUARY Keeping The Edge: 2010 Revitalizing America’s Military Officer Corps Edited by Dr. John A. Nagl and Brian M. Burton Contributing Authors: Brian M. Burton; Dr. John A. Nagl; Dr. Don M. Snider; Frank G. Hoffman; Captain Mark R. Hagerott, USN; Colonel Roderick C. Zastrow, USAF Acknowledgments We would like to thank our colleagues at the Center for a New American Security for all of their assistance and support during this process. Dr. Kristin Lord and Garrett Mitchell provided excellent organizational and editing recommendations during the writing process. Liz Fontaine was invaluable in translating the draft text into a high-quality final product. We benefited tremendously from the research support provided at all stages of the project by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Research Intern, National Security Interns Nick Masellis, Seth Rosen, Maile Yeats and Iranga Kahangama. This report is the outcome of consultation and cooperation with numerous military officers and other students of the military profession. We are very grateful for the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation, which made this project possible. We especially thank the contributors to this monograph, Captain Mark Hagerott, USN; Frank Hoffman; Dr. Don M. Snider; and Col. Rod Zastrow, USAF. We also greatly appreciate the participation of numerous others in our working groups, whose thoughtful discussion informed our recommendations. Finally, we acknowledge the helpful insights and comments on draft versions of this report provided by Col. Ross Brown, USA; Col. Joe Buche, USA; Commander Herb Carmen, USN; Lt. Col. Jeffery Goodes, USMC; Vice Admiral (ret.) Kevin Green, USN; Lt. Col. Kelly Martin, USAF; Tom Ricks; Rear Admiral James “Phil” Wisecup, USN; Dr.
  • American Democracy and Ideology: a Critical-Polemical Perspective

    American Democracy and Ideology: a Critical-Polemical Perspective

    American International Journal of Social Science Vol. 2 No. 1; January 2013 American Democracy and Ideology: A Critical-Polemical Perspective Mary L. Rucker, PhD Professor of Communication Department of Communication, Wright State University Dayton, OH 45435, USA Theresa I. Myadze, PhD Professor of Social Work Department of Social Work, Wright State University Dayton, OH 45435, USA Abstract The purpose of this article is to present a brief critical-polemical perspective on the Republican Party and the ultra-conservative Tea Party that controls it. We rely on two functions of ideology and how they influence the political behavior and decisions of the Republican Party. The ideologies of contradiction and reification limit the American people’s ability to understand the political system that prevents them from engaging political communication with their elected officials. This study finds that elected officials tend to consciously and/or unconsciously influence American citizens to support the status quo by going against themselves and their economic, social, and political interests. Key Words: Politics, Social Welfare, Democracy, Tea Party, Republican, Contradiction, Reification, Affirmative Action 1. Introduction Is it an understatement to say America invented democracy? America created a creed that supposedly lends itself to freedom, justice, and liberty for those who seek religious freedom and the pursuit of happiness, but does this creed embrace the changing demographics that influence presidential election outcomes? In the democratic realm, representative government has been America‘s proudest achievement, but few Americans exercise their rights to participate in a government they decreed by the Declaration of Independence. Since the 2010 elections that catapulted the Tea Party to power in the U.S.
  • Grading the Army's Choice of Senior Leaders by George John Fust III

    Grading the Army's Choice of Senior Leaders by George John Fust III

    Grading the Army’s Choice of Senior Leaders by George John Fust III Department of Political Science Duke University Date: _______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Peter Feaver, Supervisor ___________________________ Martin Dempsey ___________________________ Richard Kohn ___________________________ Kyle Beardsley Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 ABSTRACT Grading the Army’s Choice of Senior Leaders by George John Fust III Department of Political Science Duke University Date: _______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Peter Feaver, Supervisor ___________________________ Martin Dempsey ___________________________ Richard Kohn ___________________________ Kyle Beardsley An abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 Copyright by George John Fust III 2018 Abstract This study seeks to determine how the Army institutionally selects its 3 and 4- star officers. The central focus, What patterns are evident in the output of the Army’s 3 and 4- star selection process? has three main findings: 1. The Army has institutional preferences, 2. Multiple paths are possible to the senior leader level, 3. The Army’s most preferred path is operational and command experience. These findings were the result of a comprehensive analysis of a database developed utilizing the standardized resumes of 3 and 4-star generals who have served or retired after 1985. The database, along with the results presented here can help determine if the Army is selecting the right senior leaders and meeting its senior leader development goals.