Sparta in Babylon
- Editore:
VDM Verlag
- EAN:
9783639143805
- ISBN:
3639143809
- Pagine:
- 236
- Formato:
- Paperback
- Lingua:
- Tedesco
Descrizione Sparta in Babylon
This book examines the veracity of longstanding claims that military leaders develop a coherent public ideology that is, first, distinct from those of their parent society and, second, that this belief system is predictably conservative in character. In the American case, these claims depict self-selected and socialized military leaders as sharing in a conservative "military mind" that remains isolated from the mainstream of the American liberal tradition. Using a combination of Q-method public values sorting exercises followed by semi-structured, in-depth interviews, these arguments are tested through an intensive examination of the public philosophies of forty-five mid-level and senior U.S. Army officers and forty-five civilian community and business leaders. The findings challenge existing shibboleths regarding the prospect of a "military mind," while questioning attendant claims regarding the capacity of military service to shape individuals' public values. In place of ideological solidarity, one finds a diversity of value orderings and descriptions that do not easily fit the typical military-civilian categories.
