The Postmodern Military: Armed Forces After the Cold War

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Summary: Postmodern Military
Review: Definitely interesting book. In this book Moskos outlines his paradigm for the postmodern military along the lines of 5 organizational changes and a number of emerging trends for the military. The book is written from a sociological perspective and examines the emergence of these postmodern trends in different militaries around the world. This is definitely an insightful and fascinating book and so is its examination of other nations. Definitely a read for military sociologists and officers alike.

Rating:
Summary: A useful starting point.
Review: This is a useful study of an important subject -- how military forces in developed countries are changing as a result of broader social and political change. The book draws on research by academics, professional military and others working as the 'Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society'. US academic Charles Moskos sets out the overall thesis which is that social and political changes since the end of the cold war are fundamentally recasting how military forces recruit and train their people, operate in military contingencies and relate to their national governments. Moskos sets out eleven major areas which the other contributers use as a framework for reviewing specific military forces. Areas include such issues as preceived threats, public attitudes to the military, the dominant type of military profession in a force, the role of women and civilian employees and so on.

This 'eleven-point framework is both a strength and a weakness. While it enables some useful points of comparision between different national forces, it forces the individual country studies into a rigid structure where areas of difference are underplayed and too much attention is afforded to issues that may not be important to individual countries.

Overall, the book succeeds in showing that armed forces are indeed changing into organisations quite different from their cold war predecessors. But many broader (and more important) issues are not addressed: is this trend a good or bad thing? Are forces changing too slowly or too quickly? How should military forces train their leaders to handle these changes? And most important, what impact does this have on the capacities of countries to defend their national interests? While 'The Postmodern Military' usefully sets out the foundations for this important debate, it does not attempt to provide any of the answers to these critical broader questions.