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For many decades, the United States has been militarily the most powerful state in the world. The rise of China and increasing defence spending in Europe, together with failures (or at least debatable successes) of the Global War on Terror, increasingly lead some to question the degree of the US military supremacy. Nonetheless, US military power remains one of the cornerstones of global international order, a crucial domestic institution and one of the largest organisations in the world. Despite (or maybe because of) its indispensability and recognised superiority, the power of the US military is often treated more as a magical deus ex machina defeating all enemies by its mere appearance. This course aims to provide students with a brief but comprehensive introduction to US military power, providing historical background, its sources and its role in domestic and global contexts. Poslední úprava: Bahenský Vojtěch, Mgr., Ph.D. (26.08.2024)
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This course aims to provide students with a brief but comprehensive introduction to US military power, providing historical background, its sources and its role in domestic and global contexts. Poslední úprava: Bahenský Vojtěch, Mgr., Ph.D. (15.09.2024)
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The final grade will be based on three elements of the student's grade: Active participation, midterm exam, and final exam. Each of the parts is described in detail below. Students need to score more than 50 % on each of the three elements. Their relative weight is as follows: · 20 % Active participation · 30 % Midterm · 50 % Final exam The final number of points is converted to the final grade through the standard method:
Active participation Active participation will be graded at the end of the semester after the last of the classes. It will be based on overall attendance and – primarily – on the active contribution and participation of the given student in discussions held in the classroom. Reading the required readings, reflecting upon them in class, and bringing in interesting, course-related, and up-to-date news for discussions are sure ways to get the best grade in active participation. Students are expected to keep an eye on new developments and news pertaining to the subject of the course. For that reason, the list of suggested institutions and media for watching is available at the end of this syllabus. Each class will have a forum open in Moodle where students can suggest topics, news media articles or new papers and reports for discussion in the upcoming class. Those suggestions do need to be related to the course but do not need to be related to the particular class. Other students are welcome to check on the suggested pieces before the class. Midterm Midterm will be administered online through Moodle after class 5 of the course. It will test the basic knowledge acquired during the historically oriented part of the course. It will be based on lectures and required readings assigned for the classes up to class 5. Final exam The final exam is oral. Two students will take the exam at the same time. The exam has two parts. In the first part, the student will briefly present and discuss a selected topic. The second part will be one or more questions regarding some other area of the course content. The topic selection is open but needs to be submitted in advance through Moodle. During the first part of the exam, the student should be able to show knowledge regarding the selected topic, which is going well past the obligatory readings and lecture content and is based on his own research and reading on the topic. The other student is encouraged and expected to participate in the discussion of the other student’s selected topic. The student also has to be able to present the list of sources consulted in his preparation for the given topic. The selected topic should be clearly connected with the content of the course and, in case of doubt, should be consulted with the lecturer during the semester. While the selection is open and original ideas are encouraged, several possibly less-than-obvious approaches to the topic are encouraged: a) Critical take on an assigned reading b) Contemporary issue c) Pop-culture artefact analysis Poslední úprava: Bahenský Vojtěch, Mgr., Ph.D. (26.08.2024)
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Required readings (parts specified in syllabus): o Bartels, Frederico. (2024) Understanding the Defense Budget. In: Wood, Dakota L. (ed). (2024). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024_IndexOfUSMilitaryStrength_0.pdf o Biddle, S., & Oelrich, I. (2016). Future warfare in the Western Pacific: Chinese antiaccess/area denial, US airsea battle, and command of the commons in East Asia. International Security, 41(1), 7-48. o Cancian, Mark. (2017). Long Wars and Industrial Mobilization: It Won’t Be World War II Again. War on The Rocks. https://warontherocks.com/2017/08/long-wars-and-industrial-mobilization-it-wont-be-world-war-ii-again/ o Gompert, D. C., Cevallos, A. S., & Garafola, C. L. (2016). War with China: Thinking through the unthinkable. Rand Corporation. o Hoffman, F. G. (2009). Hybrid threats: Reconceptualizing the evolving character of modern conflict. Strategic Forum, No. 240. Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University. o Lake, D. R. (2012). Technology, qualitative superiority, and the overstretched American military. Strategic studies quarterly, 6(4), 71-99. o Meijer, H., & Brooks, S. G. (2021). Illusions of autonomy: Why Europe cannot provide for its security if the United States pulls back. International Security, 45(4), 7-43. o Nicastro, Luke A. (2023). The U.S. Defense Industrial Base: Background and Issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service. o Stewart, Richard W. (ed.) (2009). American Military History - Volume 1: The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation, 1775–1917. Second Edition. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C. o Stewart, Richard W. (ed.) (2009). American Military History - Volume 2: The United States Army in a Global era, 1917–2008. Second Edition. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C. o Robinson, N. (2024). Middle East. In: Wood, Dakota L. (ed). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024_IndexOfUSMilitaryStrength_0.pdf o Simons, Anna. (2024). The Military and Society: A Refresher. In: Wood, Dakota L. (ed). (2024). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024_IndexOfUSMilitaryStrength_0.pdf o The U.S. Military’s Force Structure: A Primer, 2021 Update. (2021). Congressional Budget Office. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57088
Recommended readings: o Beehner, L., Brooks, R., & Maurer, D. (Eds.). (2020). Reconsidering American civil-military relations: The military, society, politics, and modern war. Oxford University Press. o Blagden D. & Porter P. (2021) Desert Shield of the Republic? A Realist Case for Abandoning the Middle East, Security Studies, 30:1, 5-48. o Brooks, R. (2016). How everything became war and the military became everything: Tales from the Pentagon. Simon and Schuster. o Chandrasekaran, R. (2010). Green Zone: Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Bloomsbury Publishing. o Chandrasekaran, R. (2012). Little America: The war within the war for Afghanistan. Vintage. o Clark, Maiya. (2024) The U.S. Defense Industrial Base: Past Strength, Current Challenges, and Needed Change. In: Wood, Dakota L. (ed). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024_IndexOfUSMilitaryStrength_0.pdf o DoD. (2023). Military and Security Developments Involving the Peoples Republic of China. o Dougherty, C. (2023). Buying Time: Logistics for a New American Way of War. CNAS. https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/files.cnas.org/documents/CNASReport-Logistics-Final.pdf o Echevarria, A. J. (2004). Toward an American way of war. Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. o Echevarria, A. J. (2006). Challenging Transformation's Clichés. Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. o Grau, L. W. & Bartles C. K. (2017). The Russian Way of War. https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/Hot%20Spots/Documents/Russia/2017-07-The-Russian-Way-of-War-Grau-Bartles.pdf o Heginbotham, E., Nixon, M., & Morgan, F. E. (2015). The US-China military scorecard: Forces, geography, and the evolving balance of power, 1996–2017. Rand Corporation. o Introduction To Defense Acquisition Management. (2010). Defense acquisition university Press, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. https://dml.armywarcollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DAU-Introduction-to-Defense-Acquisition-Management-10th-ed-2010.pdf o Kochis, D. (2024). Europe. In: Wood, Dakota L. (ed). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024_IndexOfUSMilitaryStrength_0.pdf o Kuzminski K. L. & Sylvester, T. D. (2024). Back to the Drafting Board: U.S. Draft Mobilization Capability for Modern Operational Requirements. Center for New American Security. o Mattis, J., & Schake, K. N. (2016). Warriors and citizens: American views of our military. Hoover Press. o McFarland, Stephen L. (1997). A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force. Air Force History and Museums Program. o Montgomery, E. B. (2014). Contested primacy in the Western Pacific: China's rise and the future of US power projection. International Security, 38(4), 115-149. o Moore, A., & Walker, J. (2016). Tracing the US military’s presence in Africa. Geopolitics, 21(3), 686-716. o National Defense Industrial Strategy. (2023). Department of Defense. https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/ndis/2023-NDIS.pdf o O'Hanlon, M. E. (2019). The Senkaku paradox: Risking great power war over small stakes. Brookings Institution Press. o O'Hanlon, M. E. (2021). Defense 101: Understanding the Military of Today and Tomorrow. Cornell University Press. o Pettyjohn, S. L. (2022). War with China: Five Scenarios. Survival, 64(1), 57-66. o Smith, J. M., Klingner, B., Cunningham, M., Burack, B., & A. J. Harding. (2024). Asia. In: Wood, Dakota L. (ed). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024_IndexOfUSMilitaryStrength_0.pdf o Stewart, Richard W. (ed.) (2009). American Military History - Volume 2: The United States Army in a Global era, 1917–2008. Second Edition. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C. o Symonds, Craig L. (2016). The US Navy: A Concise History. Oxford University Press. o Walton, T. A., Boone, R., & Schramm, H. (2019). Sustaining the fight: Resilient maritime logistics for a new era. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. o Whitlock, C. (2021). The Afghanistan papers: A secret history of the war. Simon and Schuster. o Wong, J. P. et al. (2022). Improving Defense Acquisition: Insights from Three Decades of RAND Research. RAND. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1670-1.html o Wood, Dakota L. (ed). (2024). 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength. Heretige Foundation. Poslední úprava: Bahenský Vojtěch, Mgr., Ph.D. (15.09.2024)
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The design of the course is not based on frontal lectures, with subsequent exams based on learning the lecture content. Lectures are among the least effective methods of learning. Instead, the course is designed around creating the best possible environment for the students to learn and develop their knowledge of the course subject on their own, based on their own interests and on their own schedule. To that end: · The lectures are conceived more as an introduction to the given topic, providing a necessary overview of the subject and enabling students to further their understanding of the particular topic through further reading. · Reading of the required readings is, as the term suggests, required, but reading beyond the required readings is encouraged. The student is welcome to ignore the recommended readings and find his own sources to develop their knowledge further. · Keeping an eye on news and newly published reports on the course subject by students throughout the semester is expected and encouraged. · To make the readings less lonely and more purposeful exercise, the classes feature ample time for students to discuss their questions or comments on both required reading and other relevant items with the lecturer and the rest of the class. · The students are encouraged to develop greater interest in some aspect of the course subject. This will make the class discussion more interesting and individual contributions to discussions complementary. The final exam is designed to encourage such specialisation. Poslední úprava: Bahenský Vojtěch, Mgr., Ph.D. (26.08.2024)
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