The Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies presents:
The Third Annual Richard K. Betts Lecture on War and Peace:
How Can the Military Navigate a Domestic Political Storm?
Event Details:
Thursday, April 23, 2026
4pm-6pm
1512 IAB
Registration Link: https://events.columbia.edu/go/bettslecture
Guest lecture by Peter Feaver, Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Bass Fellow, Duke University
Hosted by Elizabeth Saunders, Director, Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies; Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Columbia University
Moderated by Richard K. Betts, Leo A. Shifrin Professor Emeritus of War and Peace Studies and Special Research Scholar, Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University
Event Description:
The challenge of civil-military relations is having a military strong enough to defend the state from threats without becoming a threat to the state in the process. The United States boasts a proud record in this regard, especially when graded on the curve of how other great powers have managed the challenge. But there is a lot of friction built into our system and we have learned in recent years how much more challenging this friction can be when the polity is afflicted with affective political polarization. Political tensions among civilians affects civil-military relations because much our system depends on the relevant actors voluntarily abiding by norms of self-restraint. We will explore the norms and best practices that have guided U.S. civil-military relations in the modern era and consider how viable they are in the present moment.
Speaker biography:
Peter D. Feaver (Ph.D., Harvard, 1990) is a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and Co-PI of the America in the World Consortium. Feaver is author of Thanks For Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military (Oxford University Press, 2023), Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations (Harvard Press, 2003) and of Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons in the United States (Cornell University Press, 1992). He is co-author: with Christopher Gelpi and Jason Reifler, of Paying the Human Costs of War (Princeton Press, 2009); with Susan Wasiolek and Anne Crossman, of Getting the Best Out of College (Ten Speed Press, 2008, 2nd edition 2012); and with Christopher Gelpi, of Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force (Princeton Press, 2004). He is co-editor, with Richard H. Kohn, of Soldiers and Civilians: The Civil-Military Gap and American National Security (MIT Press, 2001). He has published numerous other monographs, scholarly articles, book chapters, and policy pieces on grand strategy, American foreign policy, public opinion, nuclear proliferation, civil-military relations, and cybersecurity.
From June 2005 to July 2007, Feaver served as Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council Staff at the White House where his responsibilities included the national security strategy, regional strategy reviews, and other political-military issues. In 1993-94, Feaver served as Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council at the White House where his responsibilities included the national security strategy review, counterproliferation policy, regional nuclear arms control, and other defense policy issues. He is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and is a contributor to “Shadow Government” at ForeignPolicy.com.
