| This study critiques assumptions of the dominant paradigm in North American civil-military relations theory. The civilianization model portrays historical change in civil- military relations as encompassing the decline of military institutional traditions by the penetration of civilian administration, and the erosion of military professionalism as soldiers adopt the materialistic ethos of civil society.;War and society theory was employed in the conduct of three critical research strategies. The first examined the role of military forces in the emergence of the nation-state, bureaucracy, and capitalism. The second considered documentary data, arguing that the prediction of the imminent collapse of the martial spirit reflects an enduring moral panic blaming the victim, the soldier. Finally, the belief that remunerative and normative techniques have limited reliance on coercion in disciplining Canadian troops was tested with data from the post-Korean War period. The study concludes that military decline has been greatly exaggerated. |
