A U.S. Army soldier greets local Muslim shoppers as he hands out voter registration leaflets at the market place in Tojsici, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1997. (Photo by Sgt. Angel Clemons, U.S. Army. Image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Roger Petersen
MIT Course Number
17.584
As Taught In
Spring 2003
Level
Graduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
This course centers on mechanisms of civilian control of the military. Relying on the influential texts of Lasswell, Huntington, and Finer, the first classes clarify the basic tensions between the military and civilians. A wide-ranging series of case studies follows. These cases are chosen to create a field of variation that includes states with stable civilian rule, states with stable military influence, and states exhibiting fluctuations between military and civilian control. The final three weeks of the course are devoted to the broader relationship between military and society.