Building Militaries in Fragile States: Challenges for the United States

摘要

Building Militaries in Fragile States is a classic example of a doctoral dissertation transformed into a book. The author seeks to find the reason that U.S. efforts to create strong militaries in weaker countries are successful-or not. Her answer highlights the role of external actors, as well as the degree to which the host nation is willing to allow the United States to get involved in deep and sensitive matters of state (e.g., the assignment of personnel, the creation of national strategy). The author details these conclusions in the book's first three pages. The majority of the rest of the book is a tour of carefully selected cases, each adding to the evidence supporting Karlin's conclusion. This journey includes transit through an academically obligatory chapter on theory, which in this case anchors the subject in the discipline of security studies and international relations. This is followed by a central hypothesis, an equally detailed explanation and discussion of methodology, and a conclusion. Karlin has done her work well in this regard; if her dissertation committee was not impressed with her efforts, it should have been. As her evidence and analyses build, nearly 250 pages later, the reader is likely to throw in the intellectual towel and agree that an excellent job has been done.