Military Realism

Peter Campbell is Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He conducts research in the areas of international security, military innovation, civil-military relations, strategy, international relations and policy engagement, insurgency and counterinsurgency, military culture, and cyberwarfare.

“An important contribution to the scholarship on military doctrine and its importance to international relations and security studies.”—Benjamin Jensen, American University, author of Forging the Sword: Doctrinal Change in the U.S. Army"Peter Campbell provides an insightful analysis of the U.S. Army's internal dynamics for reform. He has a rare understanding of the motivation of the American military to overcome bureaucratic inertia to carry out its responsibilities to best provide for the common defense of the nation."—Conrad Crane, author of Cassandra in Oz: Counterinsurgency and Future War"Campbell offers a convincing argument that 'military realism' best explains the evolution of the U.S. Army's doctrine from the Kennedy through the George W. Bush administrations. . . . Military Realism: The Logic and Limits of Force and Innovation in the US Army is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and citizens seeking to understand the origins and substance of Army doctrine and the historic interplay of the civilian and military thinking driving the process of doctrinal innovation."—Marybeth Peterson Ulrich, General Maxwell D. Taylor Chair of the Profession of Arms, US Army War College"Although Army doctrine aficionados will most appreciate the rigor and care with which Campbell analyzes the doctrinal evolution of the Army, this book will have widespread appeal to those who wish to understand why and how the Army got to where it is today. It provides rich historical context of key events and senior leaders’ decision-making processes."—Army Magazine “Anyone interested in civil-military relations or political science theories of doctrinal change should certainly read this book. Most importantly, top civilian officials with influence over the military should study this book to gain a better understanding of the mentality of senior military officers. . . . Campbell’s work is expertly researched, exhaustively defended, and an insightfully novel piece of scholarship.”—Army History