In 1995, the Olin Institute launched a major research project on the U.S. military in post-Cold War American society.  Under the auspices of this project, the Institute sponsored a series of in-depth studies exploring issues concerning the role of the American military and the nature of American civil-military relations.  The project addressed such issues as conflicts between civilian and military leaders, the civil versus military interpretation of force projection, the use of the military in non-traditional roles, cutbacks in military spending, and the recent politization of military figures and the military establishment.  Professor Michael Desch, the project director, formed a senior advisory council composed of a small number of distinguished scholars, retired officers, and former government officials to help select working papers, book topics, and authors.

During 1997, Professor Desch completed his own book, Civilian Control of the Military: The Changing Security Environment, Professor Laura Miller continued work on her book manuscript, Gender Detente: A Third Wave of Feminist Analysis of the U.S. Army, and Mr. Thomas Ricks of the Wall Street Journal published Making the Corps.  Professor Miller was also a consultant to the Secretary of the Army's Panel on Sexual Harassment and co-author of a Congressionally mandated RAND study on women in the military.  In all, fourteen working papers have been published in association with the U.S. Military in Post-Cold War American Society Project.

The civil-military relations project concluded on Sunday, October 26, 1997, in Baltimore, with a panel discussion of the project's findings and policy recommendations.  The project continues to receive significant attention from the media, government, and academia.  Professors Desch and Miller frequently commented or were quoted on current developments in U.S. civil-military relations in television, radio, and print media and the Institute's working papers have been widely circulated.

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