General John Shalikashvili and the Civil-Military Relations of Peacekeeping

Bibliographic Data

ID2340138
AuthorsLyle J Goldstein (Politics department at Princeton University, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume26
Issue3
Pages387-411
Publication date2000-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArmed Forces & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0095-327X • E-ISSN: 1556-0848
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0095327x0002600303
OpenAlexW2011409650
LanguageEN
Citations received3

The American officer corps has adopted the post-Cold War peacekeeping mission with considerable reluctance. This reluctance was clearly manifested in the person of General Colin Powell, who overstepped traditional American civil-military norms in leveraging his extensive political clout against U.S. involvement in peacekeeping efforts. This and other factors led many observers to conclude that American civil-military relations were in crisis. Powell's successor, General John Shalikashvili, who retired in September 1997, did much to restore a working balance to American civil-military relations. He understood that Powell's sweeping skepticism about peacekeeping exceeded the profesional competence of the military officer. Shalikashvili did not take the position that peacekeeping was either wholly worthy or wholly worthless, but examined each case from Rwanda to Bosnia on its own merits. No yes-man for the Clinton administration, he frequently injected caution into deliberations. His professional demeanor helped make American foreign policy more effective by improving the quality of military advice given to the president

Civil–military relations · Foreign policy · Management · Officer · Peacekeeping · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Public Administration