Dangerous Instrument
Political Polarization and US Civil-Military Relations
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Dangerous Instrument
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Narrated by:
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Adam Barr
About this listen
As increasingly contentious politics in the United States raise concerns over the "politicization" of traditionally non-partisan institutions, many have turned their attention to how the American military has been—and will be—affected by this trend. Since a low point following the end of the Vietnam War, the US military has experienced a dramatic reversal of public opinion, becoming one of the most trusted institutions in American society. However, this trend is more complicated than it appears: just as individuals have become fonder of their military, they have also become increasingly polarized from one another along partisan lines. The result is a new political environment rife with challenges to traditional civil-military norms.
Michael A. Robinson studies the sources and potential limits of American trust in the armed services, focusing on the interplay of the public, political parties, media outlets, and the military itself on the prospect of politicization and its associated challenges. As democratic institutions face persistent pressure worldwide, Dangerous Instrument provides important insights into the contemporary arc of American civil-military affairs and delivers recommendations on ways to preserve a non-partisan military.
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- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 215
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
Andrew Marshall is a Pentagon legend. For more than four decades he has served as Director of the Office of Net Assessment, the Pentagon's internal think tank, under 12 defense secretaries and eight administrations. Yet Marshall has been on the cutting edge of strategic thinking even longer than that. Covering some of the most pivotal episodes of the last half century and peopled with some of the era's most influential figures, The Last Warrior tells Marshall's story for the first time, in the process providing an unparalleled history of the evolution of the American defense establishment.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting man
- By FoxMan on 04-28-17
By: Andrew Krepinevich, and others
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A Lot of People Are Saying
- The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new - conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum reveal how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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INSIGHTFUL
- By JaredENH on 04-30-19
By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, and others
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American Exception
- Empire and the Deep State
- By: Aaron Good
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story5 out of 5 stars 100
To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term “deep state” was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
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3 out of 5 stars
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I buy the premises, but not the conclusions...
- By Clark on 01-05-23
By: Aaron Good
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Necessary Illusions
- Thought Control in Democratic Societies
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
In his 1988 CBC Massey Lecture, Noam Chomsky inquires into the nature of the media in a political system where the population cannot be disciplined by force and thus must be subjected to more subtle forms of ideological control. Specific cases are illustrated in detail, using the U.S. media primarily but also media in other societies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Seminal work ruined by a terrible performance.
- By R. Kuprov on 04-14-17
By: Noam Chomsky
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The Accidental Guerrilla
- Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
- By: David Kilcullen
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 303
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 217
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 215
David Kilcullen is one of the world's most influential experts on counterinsurgency and modern warfare. A senior counterinsurgency advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq, his vision of war dramatically influenced America's decision to rethink its military strategy in Iraq and implement "the surge."Now, in The Accidental Guerrilla, Kilcullen provides a remarkably fresh perspective on the War on Terror.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not What I Expected
- By John on 12-12-10
By: David Kilcullen
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China Goes Global
- The Partial Power
- By: David Shambaugh
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4 out of 5 stars 41
Most global citizens are well aware of the explosive growth of the Chinese economy. Indeed, China has famously become the "workshop of the world." Yet, while China watchers have shed much light on the country's internal dynamics - China's politics, its vast social changes, and its economic development - few have focused on how this increasingly powerful nation has become more active and assertive throughout the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good summary of China's recent developements
- By Ernest on 12-29-13
By: David Shambaugh
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How Terrorism Ends
- Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns
- By: Audrey Kurth Cronin
- Narrated by: Diana Dorman
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
Amid the fear following 9/11 and other recent terror attacks, it is easy to forget the most important fact about terrorist campaigns: the always come to an end - and often far more quickly than expected. Contrary to what many assume, when it comes to dealing with terrorism it may be more important to understand how it ends than how it begins.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Halfway through
- By John S. on 07-27-12
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Another Bloody Century
- By: Colin Gray
- Narrated by: David Shaw-Parker
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Many nations, peoples and special interest groups believe that violence will advance their cause. Warfare has changed greatly since the Second World War; it continued to change during the late 20th century, and this process is still accelerating. Political, technological, social and religious forces are shaping the future of warfare, but most Western armed forces have yet to evolve significantly from the Cold War era when they trained to resist a conventional invasion by the Warsaw Pact.
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4 out of 5 stars
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a must read for those who study warfare
- By Austin on 01-21-24
By: Colin Gray
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How the West Brought War to Ukraine
- Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe
- By: Benjamin Abelow
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 1 hr and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
According to the mainstream Western narrative, Vladimir Putin is an insatiable, Hitler-like expansionist who invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked land grab. That story is incorrect. In reality, the United States and NATO bear much of the responsibility for the Ukraine crisis.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Russian (Soviet) Propaganda
- By John Williams on 12-11-22
By: Benjamin Abelow
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The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars
- By: Michael Mann
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
In its 2001 report on global climate, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations prominently featured the "Hockey Stick", a chart showing global temperature data over the past 1,000 years. The Hockey Stick demonstrated that temperature had risen with the increase in industrialization and use of fossil fuels. The inescapable conclusion was that worldwide human activity since the industrial age had raised CO2 levels, trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and warming the planet.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Speaking truth to power
- By Anonymous User on 06-06-24
By: Michael Mann
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On Power and Ideology
- The Managua Lectures
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Story5 out of 5 stars 21
The arguments are concise, and the information is overwhelming. The first two lectures examine the persistent and largely invariant features of foreign policy, the overall framework of order. The third discusses Central America and its foreign policy pattern. The fourth looks at national security and the arms race. And the fifth examines US domestic policy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eye opening
- By Alex on 08-22-15
By: Noam Chomsky
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The Avoidable War
- The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China
- By: Kevin Rudd
- Narrated by: Kevin Rudd, Rafe Beckley
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 268
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 232
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 228
The relationship between the US and China, the world’s two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily. Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who has studied, lived in, and worked with China for more than forty years, is one of the very few people who can offer real insight into the mindsets of the leadership whose judgment will determine if a war will be fought.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Xi and the CCP Approve this Message
- By Andrizomai on 12-04-22
By: Kevin Rudd
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Temptations of Power
- Islamists & Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East
- By: Shadi Hamid
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4 out of 5 stars 33
In 1989, Francis Fukuyama famously announced the "end of history." The Berlin Wall had fallen; liberal democracy had won out. But what of illiberal democracy - the idea that popular majorities, working through the democratic process, might reject gender equality, religious freedoms, and other norms that Western democracies take for granted? Nowhere have such considerations become more relevant than in the Middle East, where the uprisings of 2011 swept the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A new perspective
- By Dave114 on 08-06-18
By: Shadi Hamid
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Counterinsurgency
- By: David J. Kilcullen
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 105
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
Kilcullen brings together his most salient writings on this vitally important topic. Here is a picture of modern warfare by someone who has had his boots on the ground in some of today's worst trouble spots - including Iraq and Afghanistan - and who has been studying counterinsurgency since 1985. Filled with down-to-earth, common-sense insights, this book is the definitive account of counterinsurgency, indispensable for all those interested in making sense of our world in an age of terror.
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5 out of 5 stars
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CounterInsurgency Insights
- By JenFox on 12-21-21