Sparta in Babylon

This book examines the veracity of longstanding §claims that military leaders develop a coherent §public ideology that is, first, distinct from those §of their parent society and, second, that this §belief system is predictably conservative in §character. In the American case, these claims depict §self-selected and socialized military leaders as §sharing in a conservative "military mind" that §remains isolated from the mainstream of the American §liberal tradition. Using a combination of Q-method §public values sorting exercises followed by semi-§structured, in-depth interviews, these arguments are §tested through an intensive examination of the §public philosophies of forty-five mid-level and §senior U.S. Army officers and forty-five civilian §community and business leaders. The findings §challenge existing shibboleths regarding the §prospect of a "military mind," while questioning §attendant claims regarding the capacity of military §service to shape individuals' public values. In §place of ideological solidarity, one finds a §diversity of value orderings and descriptions that §do not easily fit the typical military-civilian §categories.