Getting there from here: Translating political goals into military objectives in conflicts short of war

Military force is one tool available to political leaders in the conduct of foreign policy. Traditional military theorists acknowledge that military objectives must serve political aims and that the political should maintain primacy over the military. A challenge in the use of military force is establishing and maintaining the linkage between political and military objectives. This challenge is heightened by the reality that political considerations may evolve during a conflict. The specific objectives, constraints and restrictions on the use of force, and the level of acceptable risks and costs are all subject to change. Most theorists focus on the use of military force in war. Not as much attention has been given to the use of force in conflicts short of war and how to establish and maintain strong political-military linkage once operations are underway. The objective of this dissertation is to offer an improved understanding of the linkages between political and military objectives in conflicts short of war through three cases of the use of military force in conflicts short of war from the 1990's: Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo.; The opening chapter of the dissertation will provide a description of the problem, a review of current literature, the research questions to be asked in each case study, and a summary of findings from the research. Five subsequent chapters will provide the case studies, to be followed by a concluding chapter that will include detailed findings and conclusions.