Bibliograph

Choosing Your Battles, American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force, Peter D. Feaver, Christopher Gelpi

Type

Label

Choosing Your Battles, American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force, Peter D. Feaver, Christopher Gelpi

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Choosing Your Battles

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

Peter D. Feaver, Christopher Gelpi

Sub title

American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force

Summary

America's debate over whether and how to invade Iraq clustered into civilian versus military camps. Top military officials appeared reluctant to use force, the most hawkish voices in government were civilians who had not served in uniform, and everyone was worried that the American public would not tolerate casualties in war. This book shows that this civilian-military argument--which has characterized earlier debates over Bosnia, Somalia, and Kosovo--is typical, not exceptional. Indeed, the underlying pattern has shaped U.S. foreign policy at least since 1816. The new afterword by Peter Feaver and Christopher Gelpi traces these themes through the first two years of the current Iraq war, showing how civil-military debates and concerns about sensitivity to casualties continue to shape American foreign policy in profound ways

Target audience

adult

Classification