Dangerous Instrument Cover

Dangerous Instrument

Political Polarization and U.S. Civil-Military Relations

Michael A. Robinson

Oxford University Press, New York, 2022, 310 pages

Book Review published on: May 19, 2023

The U.S. military has become increasingly politicized and service members act in an increasingly partisan manner, despite claims to the contrary. These are facts. As these trends grow, so too does concern for the democratic principle of civilian control of the military, and the military’s significant and growing loss of trust and confidence by the American public. Unchecked, these challenges will compromise the military’s ability to fulfill its mission of fighting and winning our Nation’s wars, and, more broadly, undermine our American democracy.

Scholarship investigating theses dynamics is clear, although sometimes muted by and lost in the oft-times impenetrable speak of academia. Regardless, the field of civil-military relations theory and scholarship is currently experiencing a revival, both in the aftermath of 9/11 and, most recently, over the past eight years. One of the most recent books on the market is also one of the most impactful and accessible. Dr. Michael Robinson’s book, Dangerous Instrument: Political Polarization and U.S. Civil-Military Relations, provides meticulously researched work and findings that are imperative to understanding why and how the military’s politicization must be addressed.

Robinson is a former assistant professor of international affairs at West Point, an Army strategist, a Stanford University PhD, and current military advisor at the U.S. Department of State. In his first book, published by Oxford Press, Robinson explains clearly how the current U.S. political environment threatens the viability of our institutions of government, particularly the military. He offers a simple yet genius model for understanding the military’s politicization, and how the military, elected officials, and the American public can address solutions to counter the dilemma we now face.

The parallax model of politicization identifies and explains how active, passive, relative, and aspect politicization occurs. In other words, how the military may actively act politically, with deliberate behavior; how the military may be politicized, passively, by politicians that endeavor to co-opt the institution for partisan or electoral advantage; and, finally, how the military may appear to subject to partisan-capture relative to how political parties (relative) or voters (aspect) may shift along the political spectrum.

Military professionals need to read this book. It should be assigned reading in the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. Because civil-military relations is not a priority in the U.S. Army’s professional military education curriculum, this is unlikely. However, for readers who are interested in civil-military relations; readers that are skeptics to claims of military politicization; or to those that may be clueless to how politicization of and partisanship within the military’s ranks can cripple a democracy, I highly recommend this book.

Book Review written by: Col. Todd A. Schmidt, PhD, U.S. Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas