Party, Politics and Deciding What Is Proper: Army Officers’ Attitudes after Two Long Wars

Drawing on recent research, the author shows how a majority of officers still believe that the active duty military should not criticize civilian leaders publicly. However, fewer today think this way than those surveyed in the late-1990s. This is a surprising finding given the poisoned state of civil-military relations towards the end of the Clinton Administration, but perhaps is indicative of the Army's frustrated experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade.