Thesis-In-Progress on American National Security

[AmericanPride]

The following is a thesis-in-progress I have for my national security course I'm taking through AMU. The paper is to be between 15-20 pages. As always, the community's commentary is welcome.

TO THE VICTOR GOES THE SPOILS:

Neo-Elite Realism and the American National Security Establishment

In March of 2003, President Bush committed the United States to war in Iraq. Surrounded in controversy regarding the justifications and intentions of the war, the subsequent military operations have since severely divided the American public. These sharp divisions, previously revealed during the presidential elections of 2000, called into question the legitimacy of America’s national security establishment and its capacity to make decisions on behalf of the public, particularly in regards to the causes of the Iraq War. However, these upheavals in public opinion have only revealed the fundamental nature of power: that a loose network of political, military and business elites make decisions for the whole by virtue of their positions in society. This network has significant influence in the national security establishment due in part to its natural insulation from public inquiry. However, division also exists within that network as various factions jockey for advantageous political positions. The insulation of the national security establishment from the American public as well as competition among factions within the body politic ensures that grand strategy decisions will be made within the context of domestic power politics and for the benefit of the victor in such struggles.

1. Analytical Framework: Neo-Elite Realism (Classical Realism, Elite Theory, and Marxism)

2. The Insulation of the National Security Establishment from the American Public

3. Factional Competition Among America’s Elites

4. Defining National Security in the Context of Factional Competition

5. Consequences for National Security: Politicizing Strategy, Inconsistent Policies, Half-Hearted Efforts, and Narrow Benefits

Note: I coined the term "Neo-Elite Realism" to avoid using Marxism since the word tends to be understood differently depending on the prisms it's seen through. Basically, a society is made up of factions. These factions compete with one another, and some of those factions manage to come out on top and in control of the state and its resources.