General John Shalikashvili and the Civil-Military Relations of Peacekeeping

Abstract

The American officer corps has adopted the post-Cold War peacekeeping mission with considerable reluctance. This reluctance was clearly manifested in the person of General Colin Powell, who overstepped traditional American civil-military norms in leveraging his extensive political clout against U.S. involvement in peacekeeping efforts. This and other factors led many observers to conclude that American civil-military relations were in crisis.

Powell's successor, General John Shalikashvili, who retired in September 1997, did much to restore a working balance to American civil-military relations. He understood that Powell's sweeping skepticism about peacekeeping exceeded the profesional competence of the military officer. Shalikashvili did not take the position that peacekeeping was either wholly worthy or wholly worthless, but examined each case from Rwanda to Bosnia on its own merits. No yes-man for the Clinton administration, he frequently injected caution into deliberations. His professional demeanor helped make American foreign policy more effective by improving the quality of military advice given to the president.