Introduction
The militarization of the American foreign policy has is a great challenge to the future national security and political goodwill of the U.S. Most of the U.S. international affairs budget is being shifted to the military. This is the same case to the operational power of the U.S. foreign policy. Former generals have been appointed to major cabinet foreign policy posts. The military’s role in delivering of the foreign policy might be hefty for the military leading to an imbalance. It would result to too much reliance on the defense forces. The bias of the foreign policy on the military is likely to reduce the economic base. Consequently, this will reduce the capacity of the economy to sustain both consumption of the republic and defense offered by the military itself. It will greatly impact on the future political, economical and security issues of the nation. Therefore, citizens’ obligation should be employed relatively to the military to avoid the future consequences.
Background
Traditionally, the military control on the foreign policy has been a coercive power. With time, in addition to the coercive power the military has extended its activities to areas of persuasive and attractive power. Since 1798, there have been such deployments of the defense forces totaling up to 330 due to international security reasons. A half of them took place after the Second World War when the U.S. became a super power. In the early times, the country has been depending on armed forces while in the later years of between 1946 and 1973, it has used volunteer force. There has also been imbalance in the allocation of resources between the military and the diplomatic and progress divides of the foreign policy. According to the earlier secretary to the defense, it is observed that there are 6,600 musicians, which is more than the state diplomats. In the long run these inequalities have negative consequences to the U.S.
Issues
After World War II, the U.S. became a super power. Thereafter, complicated global security issues have risen up requiring the U.S. intervention. The U.S. military has been increasingly utilized to respond to the security challenges. The country is also challenged by terrorism, serious national outbreaks and cyber insecurity. This has called for the deployments of the armed forces to aid solve the situations. To carry on the military activities the military needs to be provided with resources. This has lead to the huge budget expenditure on the military. The U. S. military expenditure is projected at 40 percent of the world’s military spending which is greater than collective military expenditure of the next fourteen countries.
The U.S. transition from an armed to a volunteer force has posed the current situation in the foreign policy. The nation’s political belonging has been corrupted by military adventurism. After 1973 there have been two volunteer forces to Afghanistan and Iraq. They have taken the longest time in history of American war. During the combats the U.S wholly utilized the volunteer forces. This has been the much expensive, the second to World War II and may be turn out to be the most expensive when the war in Afghanistan is concluded. If an armed force would have been used in the combats in Afghanistan and Iraq, they would have taken a shorter period. This would mean fewer resources to the armed military as compared to the all- volunteer military which took a decade after 9-11 and is still in Afghanistan. The volunteer forces might have created the most powerful military in history but lead to need for regular employment of additional forms of national command.
The establishment of the U.S. military in the international affairs has also been attributed to the weakened external oversight and the forced accountability on the places of military control. This can be linked to the consequences of all volunteer force. The Congress proportion of members who have worked with the Force has reduced from 73 percent to around 22 percent in the recent. In the 1969-1971, there were 389 members and only 118 in 2011-2013. The contribution of the media to the all volunteer military has also declined just as the Congress. The reason for the media fall out is the exposes which have led to tough accountability. The unavailability of the tough media has been argued to contribute to the major achievements of the American military. In the contrary, lack of the media has led to large waste of money, fraud and corruption within the military. The military expenditure is high, the national security calls out for the military and political association with the society is being eroded. However with the press and Congress have bended low their vigilance instead of being involved to salvage the conditions. Presence of the media and the Congress will hold the military questionable over the huge expenditure whether it was armed force or all volunteer force. This will reduce fraud, corruption and improve the political association with the society through their reports.
Research and Analysis
Complicating Issues
With increased terrorism in the current times, it is increasingly getting difficulty to reduce the militarization of the of the U.S. foreign policy. The national security is at stake with threats from the likes of North Korea in the most recent case. The super power status of the U.S. has come in the way to solve complicated global security issues. This has left it with no choice but to intervene making it almost impossible to reduce the influence of the military in the foreign policy.
Possible Solutions
The militarization of the U.S. military in the foreign policy could perhaps be reduced through increasing the media and Congress influence. This will enable all time reports that could be used to analyze and offer a solution to the policy. The transition from armed force to all volunteer force should be less adopted. This would increase responsiveness of external forces and reduce the military expenditure as well. It will also ensure the national security.
Recommendation
As much as the advantages of the all-volunteer force are precise, the unaddressed disadvantages are often ignored. Beth Bailey, in her study of the volunteer military stated that: ‘‘in a democratic nation, there is something lost when individual liberty is valued over all and the rights and benefits of citizenship become less closely linked to its duties and obligations.’’ The U.S. as super power is right in the effort to employ military authority for democracy but it must also admit to the contrary of the action hence find a solution.
Summary
The American’s foreign policy has been extremely militarized with majority of the international affairs being carried out by an All-Volunteer armed force. This has posed challenging problems to future the national security as well as the political relationships of the U.S. with the rest of the society. Admitting the negative impact of the All-Volunteer force will reduce the accountability of the nation internationally at the same time reinstating the super power state. It will enable the military to have the national security at stake.
References
Bailey, B. (2009). America's Army: Making The All-Volunteer Force. The Belknap Press Of Havard University
Karl, E. W. (2013). The Militarization Of The U.S. Foriegn Policy Injterests. The Journal Of The National Comittee On American Foriegn Policy , Pp. 1-8.
Bacevich, A. J. (2012). The new American militarism: How Americans are seduced by war. New York: Oxford University Press.
Spanier, J. W. (2008). American foreign policy since World War II. Washington, D.C: CQ Press.
