A Question Of Legitimacy (Military In A Demo Society)

[Richard]

Something worth reading and thinking about.

The American Military has consistently been regarded as one of the most trusted institutions in the United States[1]. By and large, American military personnel are trusted to do the right thing and behave with an honor and dignity uncommon among the militaries of all but our closest allies. However, extended conflict over the last decade has placed enormous strain on the force and while it has maintained its position in society, the forces that have been steadily driving it towards becoming a separate class, distinct in its ideology and culture, have been accelerated. In academic thought much work has been done to determine if such a class is beginning to form but little work has been done on the effects such a class might have on American Society. Perhaps more importantly – no work has been done to try and identify how a Military Class in the United States might react to threats to the democratic regime and in so doing, start the process of identifying how to properly develop a military society which always sees the American People and The Constitution as its sole sources of legitimacy and reason for existence.

A Question of Legitimacy
SWJ, 16 Dec 2011

http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/a-question-of-legitimacy?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

[1stindoor]

Thanks Richard. That was a good read. Although I must admit that I need to reread it again to fully absorb a lot of what was outlined. What I found interesting was in the conclusion,

If as a nation, the United States is unwilling to directly oppose the rise of a Warrior Class, action should be taken to ensure it consistently derives its legitimacy from the population and never comes to adhere to an ideology inconsistent with broader American values.

Derives its legitimacy from the population?...I don't see how this is even remotely possible given the liberal stretch that most of the populace is putting towards their "American values."

This can be accomplished through increased civil schooling opportunities, a broadened focus on community involvement, and through programs that increase opportunities for college students and trade workers to learn together with military members. Programs such as ACS should be expanded to include variations which send NCO’s to school for their Bachelor’s Degrees and that bring college students into military schools for a year to share ideas. The military should actively and aggressively recruit the best and brightest professors in academia for teaching positions with the military, even if this means increased cost. Additionally, military officers possessing PhD’s should be accepted into temporary teaching positions at our nation’s finest universities. Only through a consistent and aggressive campaign designed to keep the process of learning and developing future generations together can we ensure we avoid ideological divergence between a potential Warrior Class and the population itself.
I say the genie is out of the bottle on that one. That divergence has already occured as a result of the 10 plus years of fighting done by a very small segment of the population while America has gone about it's way going to the mall.

Of course now that we're shutting down on one front and winding down on another there's talk of how expensive it is for our long term care, retirement benefits, education, etc. It's easy to feel like there's a divergence when the elected officials of the country split away from you.

[bubba]

History repeats itself, all over again. If memory serves, similar attacks on military benefits for retirees and "post-war" service members happened on WW1 vets. The results included a near military coup. Back even further, weren't there some similar issues post Revolutionary War and Civil War as well. WW2 seems to be the shining example (if you could call it that) of how to treat vets, but, there was a GO elected president soon after, most of the male population served, and almost all sacrificed.........

[Peregrino]

Sounds like the concerns of a pet owner who suddenly realizes the dog guarding his yard that he's been kicking (with more regularity than feeding) has teeth. And the ability to make independant judgements WRT appropriate use thereof.

[Buffalobob]

Is it important that most Americans don’t actually know a veteran?

He makes an unfounded statement by choosing to ignore two whole generations of veterans. I would think that almost everyone knows a Korean war or RVN vet. It is further interesting and telling that he does not review the interaction between the public, the government and the military during the Vietnam War.

And as best I can tell he protects his own career by not delving deeply into the private industry role in the military and how it drives a lot of the policy issues that divide the true military from the remainder of the population. Noteworthy was Ike's warning on the problem.

The statement that the military is composed of multi-generational warriors is interesting and perhaps true but I did not see where he referenced a source for that statement. From my own perspective I find it to be true.

Lastly, I do not understand why he did not review the British military which is a professional military in a democratic society and is the third largest (?) in the world.

[Pete]

I think the "general" observation to which he is writing about is false.

For the last 30 years the military has been drifting "civilian".

You could say it started with maternity BDUs. I really don't mean that in a negative way but the military has been bending over the last few decades to make it single parent family friendly. Add in DADT and away she goes.......

After downsizing and being out of Iraq and Afghanistan a few years the "Warrior" will be tip toeing on ice.

[JJ_BPK]

Haven't finished the complete article, but the comments, make me think of other nations.

Many sovereign states had a Warrior Class throw down the seated government because it had so weakened the religious institutions, social structure and economic base of the country, as to be useless.

Besides the Romans,, there have been hundreds..

From WIKI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat



Coup d'état

Types

The political scientist Samuel P. Huntington identifies three classes of coup d'état:

Breakthrough coup d'état: a revolutionary army overthrows a traditional government and creates a new bureaucratic elite. Generally led by mid-level or junior officers. Examples are China in 1911, Bulgaria in 1944, Egypt in 1952, Turkey in 1960, Greece in 1967, Libya in 1969, Portugal in 1974 and Liberia in 1980.

Guardian coup d'état: the "musical chairs" coup d'état. The stated aim of such a coup is usually improving public order and efficiency, and ending corruption. There usually is no fundamental change to the power structure. Generally, the leaders portray their actions as a temporary and unfortunate necessity. An early example is the coup d'état by consul Sulla, in 88 B.C., against supporters of Marius in Rome, after the latter attempted to strip him of a military command.

A contemporary instance is the civilian Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's overthrow by Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, who cited widespread civil disorder and impending civil war as his justification.

In 1999, General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the same grounds.

Nations with guardian coups can frequently shift back and forth between civilian and military governments. Example countries include Pakistan, Turkey (1971 and 1980), and Thailand. A bloodless coup usually arises from the Guardian coup d'état.

Veto coup d'état: occurs when the army vetoes the people's mass participation and social mobilisation in governing themselves.

In such a case, the army confronts and suppresses large-scale, broad-based civil opposition, tending to repression and killing, such as the coup d'état in Chile in 1973 against the elected Socialist President Salvador Allende Gossens by the Chilean military.

The same happened in Argentina throughout the period 1930-1983.

The 20 July 1944 plot by parts of the German military to overthrow the elected National Socialist government of Adolf Hitler in Germany is an example of a failed veto coup d'état.[citation needed]

A coup d'état is typed according to the military rank of the lead usurper.

The veto coup d'état and the guardian coup d'état are effected by the army's commanding officers.

The breakthrough coup d'état is effected by junior officers (colonels or lower rank) or non-commissioned officers (sergeants). When junior officers or enlisted men so seize power, the coup d'état is a mutiny with grave implications for the organizational and professional integrity of the military.

In a bloodless coup d'état, the threat of violence suffices to depose the incumbent.

In 1889, Brazil became a republic via bloodless coup.

In 1999, Pervez Musharraf assumed power in Pakistan via a bloodless coup;
and, in 2006, Sonthi Boonyaratglin assumed power in Thailand as the leader of the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy.

The self-coup denotes an incumbent government — aided and abetted by the military — assuming extra-constitutional powers.

A historical example is President, then Emperor, Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.

Modern examples include Alberto Fujimori, in Peru, who, although elected, temporarily suspended the legislature and the judiciary in 1992, becoming an authoritarian ruler, and King Gyanendra's assumption of “emergency powers” in Nepal.

Another form of self-coup is when a government, having been defeated in an election, refuses to step down.



The US Warrior Class has peaked several times. After the Revolution, the Civil War, and WW I & II. It will happen again..

The WW I Bonus Army is, I think, as close as we have been to Warrior Class revolt..