For your final exam, you will pick TWO of the FOUR questions below and address them in an essay submission of approximately 1,250 words in length (approximately 5 pages of double-spaced and 12 point font of text, not including the cover and reference pages):
1.A critical 21st century challenge will be maintaining and reinforcing the critical relationship between government, military and people specified by Clausewitzs holy trinity a function that has sustained increased pressures from Americas wars and extensive ongoing military commitments. In your analysis, what are the most critical problems (and the sources of these problems) regarding the relationship between the United States government, its armed forces and the people? What remedies do you prescribe to improve the nature of this critical relationship?
2. How would you describe the key features of the emerging global security environment of the 21st century? Which of these do you consider to be the most critical to American national security-and in what ways do they complicate policymaking? What, in your view, are the most important advantages and deficits the United States holds in this security environment?
3. Politics in the United States has been described as an invitation to struggle between the president and Congress, yet the evolution of power has placed the president in a clearly dominant position in national security affairs. What, in your analysis, have been the principle factors leading to executive dominance in national security? What are the most important Congressional roles in policymaking? Are there any instances or areas of policymaking where you would argue that Congressional activity has been detrimental to the provision of national security? Do you agree with those that claim Congress needs to reassert its Constitutional authority in the realm of national security? Why or why not?
4. In the United States, military leaders are not asked by political leaders when and where to go to war, and civilian control of the armed forces has always been a central feature of American democracy; some contemporary observers however argue that there is a developing crisis of civil-military relations. To the extent that this is true, what would you specify as the most obvious manifestations of this crisis? The causes and severity of these problems? How can American society best ensure that the armed forces remain subordinate to civilian authority while retaining the ability to respond to a wide range of security challenges?
