PSCI 367
The Politics of American National Security Spring 2020
Division II
Cross-listed PSCI 367 / LEAD 367
This is not the current course catalog

Liberal democracies face the challenge of establishing effective civil-military relations in order to protect and promote their cherished way of life while preserving civilian control of the armed forces. A lot is at stake in getting it right — everything from national survival to the preservation of liberty. In the process, countries must decide on policies for the armed forces: should they be forced to adopt the values of the society they protect, and should the military be used to drive social change in the country? This course provides an extensive examination of American civil-military relations from the Founding era to the current day. The constitutional, legal, and theoretical frameworks for civil-military relations are explored to set the conditions for students to assess contemporary US grand strategy and the merits and consequences (including moral-ethical) of using military force to achieve political ends. The course concludes with a section on the future of American civil-military relations.