19 - Militaries

Summary

We are an army, not a Salvation Army

US Secretary of Defense William J. Perry

The army is my army For me, it's the measuring stick of my life. It's my pride, my soul's pain, my labor and sweat. It's my entire life. It's my father, who defended Leningrad, and my brothers, officers of the armed forces. What is happening to all of it?

Lt. Col. Melis Bekbasynov, member of the Russian officer corps

A curse on you all. Where are you taking the world?

Azerbaijani grandmother

Having indicated in previous chapters that globalizing dynamics have transformed the concept of security from a preoccupation with territorial protection to a concern for markets, trade, and economic well-being, and anticipating the central thrust of chapter 22 that traces a decreasing likelihood of interstate war, the purpose of this chapter is to identify what military tasks remain and what problems defense agencies will have to confront in order to perform their revised responsibilities. As suggested by the above epigraphs, offered from various perspectives on and within armed forces, militaries throughout the world have been rocked by enormous stresses and strains in the aftermath of the Cold War. These pose a compelling question as to how they will adapt to their altered circumstances: In a turbulent world of fragmenting polities, troubled economies, restless publics, refocused enmities, and vast international transformations, where do soldiers and military organizations fit?