Multinational Military Exercises and Security Cooperation in the American Order

• In Event: The Diverse Foundations of American Global Power

Abstract

States regularly hold military exercises not only to train the fighting force, but also to achieve political ends, such as deterrence or signaling resolve. Since the Second World War, this has meant the proliferation of multinational military exercises, a form of security cooperation that appears to be unique to the postwar era. The evolution of this form of security cooperation over subsequent decades suggests a changing relationship between the state, security, and international order. More specifically, multinational military exercises today make demands on the technical, organizational, and cultural aspects of interoperability across national militaries at increasingly fine scales. The global reach of the US military has in turn helped linkages between national militaries across the American order proliferate, particularly in recent years. Security is in many ways the foundation of the state, and as the practices of security – those that hone the actual capabilities of the force – have radically changed, so, arguably, has the state. This paper traces the changing practices of international security cooperation through an analysis of multinational military exercises and draws implications about the nature of the state and the postwar American order. In doing so, it draws a contrast to more mainstream approaches to international order.

Author

• Sebastian M. Schmidt, Johns Hopkins University