Military Legitimacy

Focusing on the challenges faced by the US military in responding to 'operations other than war' in the post-Cold War era, Rudolph Barnes makes a plea for the US government to address the 'organizational bias for combat' and 'narrow traditionalist view of military professionalism' within the Pentagon, which, he argues, are serious obstacles to developing an effective capabiilty for operations other than war. He draws on examples from Vietnam to the mismanagement of US military involvement in Somalia.