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Review of: "The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations (Belknap Press)," by Samuel P. Huntington (Author).
This is a superb text for the Professional Military Officer. The publisher's synopsis states: "In a classic work, Samuel P. Huntington challenges most of the old assumptions and ideas on the role of the military in society. Stressing the value of the military outlook for American national policy, Huntington has performed the distinctive task of developing a general theory of civil–military relations and subjecting it to rigorous historical analysis."
The text is broken down into seventeen chapters to include a comprehensive index and notes. They are enumerated as follows: Part I: Military Institutions and The State: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives. Chapter 1: Officership as a Profession. Chapter 2: The Rise of the Military Profession in Western Society. Chapter 3: The Military Mind: Conservative Realism of the Professional Military Ethic. Chapter 4: Power, Professionalism, and Ideology: Civil-Military Relations in Theory. Chapter 5: Germany and Japan: Civil-Military Relations in Practice. Part II: Military Power in America: The Historical Experience 1789-1940. Chapter 6: The Ideological Constant: The Liberal Society versus Military Professionalism. Chapter 7: The Structural Constant: The Conservative Constitution versus Civilian Control. Chapter 8: The Roots of the American Military Tradition before the Civil War. Chapter 9: The Creation of the American Military Profession. Chapter 10: The Failure of the Neo-Hamiltonian Compromise, 1890-1920. Chapter 11: The Constancy of Interwar Civil-Military Relations. Part III: The Crisis of American Civil-Military Relations, 1940-1955. Chapter 12: World War II: The Alchemy of Power. Chapter 13: Civil-Military Relations in the Postwar Decade. Chapter 14: The Political Roles of the Joint Chiefs. Chapter 15: The Separation of Powers and Cold War Defense. Chapter 16: Departmental Structure of Civil-Military Relations. Chapter 17: Toward a New Equilibrium. Notes. Index.
Part of the Author's conclusion sums up the spirit of the text: "Upon Soldiers, the defenders of order, rests a heavy responsibility. The greatest service they can render is to remain true to themselves, to serve with silence and courage in the military way. If they abjure the military spirit, they destroy themselves first and their Nation ultimately. If the civilians permit the soldiers to adhere to the military standard, the nations themselves may eventually find redemption and security in making that standard their own (p. 466)."
Well done. Five stars!
- Series: Belknap Press S
- Paperback: 560 pages
- Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press; Revised edition (September 15, 1981)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0674817362
- ISBN-13: 978-0674817364
- Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1 x 9.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 17 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#184,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1284 in Political Science (Books)
- #63 in Military Sciences
- #316 in Military History (Books)
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