Book Review: Above the shots: An oral history of the Kent State shootings

• Author: Christina R. Steidl
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17726071
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Book Reviews
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operations is a lot to ask in a region with limited state capacity. Chaudhry (1993) has
argued that a state needs more capacity to regulate private market actors than to
produce goods itself, for instance, through a command economy (1993). Similarly, a
model in which civilian officials oversee military operations assumes a great deal of
civilian state capacity, the development of which may cost more than committing
civilian agencies to do the work directly.
The case of Bolivian cash transfers demonstrates both civilian control of military
operations and military effectiveness. However, because in that program the mili-
tary’s job was highly circumscribed, we should exercise caution when generalizing
from it. Civilian authorities provided clear and detailed guidance regarding how and
to whom military units were to deliver program funds, who was to sign off on
deliveries, and who was to audit the transfers. Specific instructions would have
minimized uncertainty, and thus, it is unlikely that civilians would have actively
monitored military personnel during an operation. That is, civilian supervision of
military operations would have been minimal.
In sum, Military Missions in Democratic Latin America puts forth an insightful
framework for understanding military missions and their repercussions, and it points
to new research opportunities. Pragmatic politicians now look to the military as an
immediate fix, in settings of limited civilian state capacity and serious challenges to
internal security and development. We might now ask whether these short-term
solutions are also short-sighted: one could systematically examine the extent to
which civilian control of operations has become institutionalized and the efficiency
of any such monitored, militarized services.
References
Chaudhry, K. A. (1993). The myths of the market and the common history of late developers.
Politics and Society, 21, 245–274.
Stepan, A. (1973). The new professionalism of internal warfare and...