Adaptive Military, The

The Adaptive Military, by James Burk, Editor, 2nd edition, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1998; (227 pages, $22.95 paper)

First published as Military in New Times in 1994, this second edition apparently contains only a small amount of new material in the introductory chapter written by the editor, specifically, references to the ineffective UN action in Bosnia. Although most of the chapters are merely republication of the originals, they are still timely in view of recent experiences in such places as Haiti and Kosovo, especially the latter. With respect to Kosovo, the Clinton Administration seems intent on destroying the Serbian economy as a means of establishing peace in that forlorn country. The irony of the situation seems to have escaped the leaders of the American state.

The end of the Cold War, circa 1989 to 1991, also ended a certain stability more or less enforced by the two remaining "super powers." The resulting effect on the armed forces of the various states having the capability to establish and enforce the peace among otherwise warring mostly Third World states is the subject of the work. The paramount military forces are, of course, those of the United States which are now being given more assignments with fewer resources than ever before. As one would expect, the armed forces of every nation including those of the U.S. resist fundamental change in their organization, which exacerbates the problem if the numerous and varied commitments are to be met. The short fall in forces has been, to some degree, mitigated by the call-up of reserves which so far has worked reasonably well in the U.S. When the newness of the reserve force incorporation into the "total force" wears thin because of resistance by reservists as well as by employers, the reserve forces themselves may well crumble.

The second chapter by James N. Rosenau, "Armed Force and Armed Forces in a Turbulent World", focuses on the recent changes in the overall structure of global politics, in the authority structures that link collectivities to individual citizens and in skills of the citizenry. Although he does not explicitly say so, the author seems to suggest the onset of "chaos" (in the mathematical/dynamical sense) under certain conditions without ever developing the idea. The area of chaos and the closely related "selforganization" seem to be ripe for research relative to the author's model. One hopes that he will investigate this area in the future.

In a chapter entitled "The Shifting Threat and American National Security: Sources and Consequences of Change," Donald M. Snow raises several questions, all of which are strongly dependent on the United States:

(1) Will the U.S. approach the international system from an activist, expansionist, or a neo-isolationist perspective?

(2) How will the interest-threat mismatch be resolved? (The U.S. cannot intervene in every conflict around the globe.)

(3) Will the apparent trend toward collective security continue, or will we revert to some form of collective defense?

(4) Will the new world order be marked by a greater assertion of the rights of individuals and groups against states, or will it revert to the old "Westphalian order" where the rights of states are supreme?

(5) How will the system deal with an effectively smaller and much more transparent world?

These questions are important ones which the author discusses in depth but necessarily makes no attempt to answer. They are asked against the backdrop of the proposal (argued at some length by Christopher Dandedekar) that warfare may be obsolete and that military forces may come to exist almost entirely as international police forces.

Despite organizational rigidities, military forces of the Western states are undergoing considerable sociological change such as the full integration of women and in a few cases (notably Canada and The Netherlands) homosexuals. Some evidence exists suggesting that the integration of women is not going very well in the U.S. armed forces, adversely affecting morale at the same time that over-commitment on military forces is exerting its own enormous stress on service personnel. Nevertheless, the die seems cast. In Chapter Six entitled "The Postmodern Military" Charles Moskos and James Burk expand on the changing structure and composition of armed forces, suggesting that the distinctions between military forces and civilian activities will continue to blur and that the world of mass "industrial-type" armies has ended. A concomitant change is the ending of national military service.

Finally, Robert L. Holmes argues that military forces are indeed nearly obsolete. According to him, "non-violence" is the coming mode of resistance to international violence and persecution. He makes the point that wars rarely solve contentious issues, a point that is quite timely in view of the NATO assault on Serbia. Still, he is careful to not rule out force entirely.

To summarize, this work is still timely and useful from the standpoint of asking important questions, even though most of it dates from the early 1990s.

Reviewed by Robert C. Whitten

Copyright Dr. George Kourvetaris Summer 1999
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