Читать книгу The CQ Press Career Guide for Political Science Students - Wendy N. Whitman Cobb - Страница 10

Political science degrees can also lead to excellent careers in the U.S. military. In order to be an officer in most branches of the armed forces, you must hold a bachelor’s degree, and although the military does not specify what that degree must be in, political science provides future military officers with the knowledge of world affairs and domestic politics that help sharpen their analytical skills.

As the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote, “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” The military is ultimately a tool of foreign policy that is placed under the control of a civilian, elected leadership. Being able to understand not only the history of international affairs and its effect on military doctrine but current events is crucial to understanding the role the military plays and what it’s capable of doing. For example, an understanding of the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East can be important but so is understanding how other militaries have fought terrorist insurgents. This is part of the reason that military history is often a required class for ROTC cadets in college.

Sometimes, in the course of duty, troops will be asked to work with soldiers from other states, the United Nations, or NATO. Often, international soldiers come to American military schools for additional training, and this is a tool for furthering relations with those states. Cooperating with individual soldiers from other places may be easy, but often, dealing with the foreign military machinery may be hard. An understanding of those countries and their geopolitical situations will ease those situations and further American military and diplomatic goals.