Zoltan Barany

Course Description:

This course is designed to familiarize graduate students with the military's role in modern state and society.  The focus is on the sociopolitical character of the armed forces.  We will examine the most important issues of civil-military relations, such as why is civilian control important, what types of control arrangements are conducive to healthy civil-military relations in various types of political regimes, and in what ways do military elites respond to state policies and social movements.  The class begins with eight weeks of intensive readings in order to get you grounded in the literature and help you learn to appreciate the diversity of civil-military relations in different political systems.  You will write brief (one single-spaced page) discussion proposals to facilitate debate about the readings.  We will conclude with student presentations (approximately 30-minute summations of your research).  The seminar paper is due at the last seminar meeting (April 29); extensions will not be given save for truly exceptional cases (e.g., unanticipated call-up for combat duty, debilitating illness, etc.).

Grading Policy:

8 discussion proposals   (2.5% each)           : 20

seminar participation (including presentation

            of the research paper)                       :  25

research paper (20-25 pages)                      :  55

I will assume that as graduate students you will do the readings as assigned.  I want you to immerse yourselves in the books and articles in order to be able to make critical and insightful comments during the seminar meetings.  Since the seminar is based on discussion, without your substantive, engaged participation it will be of little use.

The research paper is the most important requirement of this course.  The paper should be 20 to 25 double-spaced pages in length and should be informed by at least 25 different sources (books, articles, etc.).  The paper should be structurally sound and the argument(s) should be built to follow logical reasoning.  Ideally, it would take advantage of some existing theory to inform its argument(s); it should be analytical and feature relatively little descriptive material (i.e., ask not “how?” ask rather “why?”).

Texts:

Barany, Zoltan. Soldiers and the Changing State: Building Democratic Armies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012). ISBN: 0691137692

Barany, Zoltan. Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007). ISBN: 0691128960

Bruneau, Thomas C. and Scott D. Tollefson, eds. Who Guards the Guardians and How: Democratic Civil-Military Relations (University of Texas Press, 2006) ISBN: 0292719248

Dempsey, Jason K. Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009). ISBN: 0691142254

Maddow, Rachel. Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power (New York: Crown, 2012).

Nawaz, Suja. Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Trinkunas, Harold. Crafting Civilian Control of the Military in Venezuela: A Comparative Perspective (University of North Carolina Press, 2005) ISBN: 0807856509

 … and some selected articles

This course is designed to familiarize graduate students with the military's role in modern 

state and society.  The focus is on the sociopolitical character of the armed forces.  We will 

examine the most important issues of civil-military relations, such as why is civilian control 

important, what types of control arrangements are conducive to healthy civil-military 

relations in various types of political regimes, and in what ways do military elites respond 

to state policies and social movements.  The class begins with eight weeks of intensive 

readings in order to get you grounded in the literature and help you learn to appreciate the 

diversity of civil-military relations in different political systems.  You will write brief (one 

single-spaced page) discussion proposals to facilitate debate about the readings.  We will 

conclude with student presentations (approximately 30-minute summations of your 

research).  The seminar paper is due at the last seminar meeting (May 2); extensions will 

not be given save for exceptional cases (e.g., unanticipated call-up for combat duty, 

debilitating illness, etc.).