The Military as a Separate Society: Consequences for Discipline in the United States and Australia [Hardcover]

The exercise of public power by the military in civilian Western democracies such as Australia and the United States demonstrates a tendency toward diminished responsibility for moral behavior. Pauline Collins argues that a different system of military criminal investigation and discipline outside the civilian justice system enables the military to operate like a coterie and can lead to a failure in the requisite moral standard of behavior required of military personnel and maintaining civilian institutional control. Collins argues that the justifications for separate treatment weakens both the military reputation and the practice of civilian control of the military as well as leading to an overall decline in morality and values in a democratic society.Pauline Collins is professor in the School of Law and Justice at the University of Southern Queensland.

As a legal officer in the Australian Army Reserve (now long retired), I personally encountered numerous aspects of Pauline Collinss excellent work, The Military as a Separate Society, in particular the complicated questions raised by the extent of civilian institutional control over the military. This is a comprehensive work, and possibly the only one of its kind, to perform such a detailed analysis of the American and Australian experiences. Certainly at least for military legal officers, it is a compelling read. For those presently serving, it provides a valuable insight into the nuances of how these questions are viewed institutionally. For those who have left the service, this book vividly brings to life the vexed issues they likely were called upon to resolve, and it will leave them wishing that such a valuable resource had been available to them earlier. Ken Yin, Edith Cowan University

Professor Collins has developed significant expertise in the area of military law, and this book represents another impressive work in this area. Professor Collins significantly challenges the status quo in terml£¶