Bøger af Dale R. Herspring

"e;. . . a volume that provides both solid historical background for the novice reader and provocative and thoughtful material for the more advanced scholar. It should find wide classroom use at all levels and will be an important addition to the bookshelf of any analyst of post-Soviet security affairs."e; -Slavic Review"e;The history is both fascinating and timely . . ."e; -European Security"e;When military reform returns to its deservedly prominent place in the Russian political agenda, Herspring's book will offer invaluable guidance."e; -Mark von HagenDale Herspring analyzes three key periods of change in civil-military relations in the Soviet Union and postcommunist Russia: the Bolshevik construction of the communist Red Army in the 1920s; the era of perestroika, when Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to implement a more benign military doctrine and force posture; and the Yeltsin era, when a new civilian and military leadership set out to restructure civil-military relations. The book concludes with a timely discussion of the relationship of the military to the current political struggle in Russia.

Donald Rumsfeld was a natural for secretary of defense, he was smart, he worked hard, and he was skeptical of the status quo in military affairs and dedicated to high-tech innovations. This work offers a nonpartisan assessment of Rumsfeld's impact on the US military establishment from 2001 to 2006, focusing especially on the Iraq War.

While presidents have always kept a watchful eye on the military, our generals have been equally vigilant in assessing the commander-in-chief. Their views, however, have been relatively neglected in the literature on civil-military relations. By taking us inside the military''s mind in this matter, Dale Herspring''s book provides a path-breaking, utterly candid, and much-needed reassessment of a key relationship in American government and foreign policymaking.As Herspring reminds us, that relationship has often been a very tense, even extremely antagonistic one, partly because the military has become a highly organized and very effective bureaucratic interest group. Reevaluating twelve presidents-from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush-Herspring shows how the intensity of that conflict depends largely on the military''s perception of the president''s leadership style. Quite simply, presidents who show genuine respect for military culture are much more likely to develop effective relations with the military than those who don''t.Each chapter focuses on one president and his key administrators-such as Robert McNamara, Henry Kissinger, and Donald Rumsfeld-and contains case studies showing how the military reacted to the president''s leadership. In the final chapter, Herspring ranks the presidents according to their degree of conflict with the military: Lyndon Johnson received exceedingly low marks for being overbearing and dismissive of the armed forces, further aggravating his Vietnam problem. George H. W. Bush inspired respect for not micromanaging military affairs. And Bill Clinton was savaged both privately and publicly by military leaders for having been a "draft dodger," cutting Pentagon spending, and giving the "Don''t Ask, Don''t Tell" tag an unnecessarily high profile.From World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Herspring clearly shows how the nature of civilian control has changed during the past half century. He also reveals how the military has become a powerful bureaucratic interest group very much like others in Washington--increasingly politicized, media-savvy, and as much accountable to Congress as to the commander-in-chief.Ultimately, The Pentagon and the Presidency illuminates how our leaders devise strategies for dealing with threats to our national security-and how the success of that process depends so much upon who''s in charge and how that person''s perceived by our military commanders.

Provides an analysis of the Russian president's influence on the Russian officer corps, the soldiers they lead, and their army's combat readiness. This work also suggests how the often fraught relationship between the president and the high command must evolve if the Russian Federation is to become a truly democratic nation.

This study traces the role of East Germany's military (NVA) in the country's unification with West Germany. Utilizing interviews with NVA officers, Herspring aims to unravel the puzzle of the NVA's decision against using force to save the political system it was sworn to serve.