April 6, 2015
Nearly 60 years ago, political scientist Samuel Huntington analyzed military officership in terms of what he called the “distinguishing characteristics of a profession”: Expertise, responsibility, and corporateness. This discussion of “Officership as a Profession” formed a chapter in Huntington’s seminal work, The Soldier and the State, which is widely and justifiably considered to be one of the most important studies of civil-military relations ever written. The book is at the center of “civ-mil” curricula at service academies and war colleges to this day. But for all of its prominence, The Soldier and the Statehas been largely absent from conversations on leadership development in the armed services. This absence is unfortunate, as the framework of expertise, responsibility, and corporateness is remarkably applicable for understanding and assessing the development of military officers as leaders today.
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