Tuesday, March 17, 2015
2 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
Joukowsky Forum
Reception to follow.
In and Out of Uniform: Civil-Military Relations Reconsidered
A discussion prompted by James Fallows’ "The Tragedy of the American Military"
In the cover article in the January/February issue of The Atlantic, James Fallows posed the provocative question “Why Do the Best Soldiers in the World Keep Losing?” At the heart of many of the contributing factors he lists is a lack of knowledge about the workings of the military among civilians, from political leaders through regular taxpaying citizens. This state of affairs, argues Fallows, has limited effective civilian oversight of military expenditures, as well as public accountability for America’s strategic defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq. While everyone “supports” the troops, Fallows suggest this is largely lip-service, which in fact is undermining the national interest, making wars more likely and less winnable.
Two panels comprised of Brown and Naval War College faculty and students will discuss these and related questions concerning the state of civil-military relations on March 17th beginning at 2:00 pm in the Joukowsky Forum at the Watson Institute.
See the full agenda and bios here.
Co-sponsored by the Watson Institute and the U.S. Naval War College.