Beyond the Soldier and the State: Contemporary Operations and Variance in Principal-Agent Relationships

Abstract

Are all soldiers created equal to deal with the multiple relationships found in contemporary military operations? Principal-agent theory has long been used in understanding relationships within political environments, and was recently applied by Feaver to understand civil-military relations. While Feaver’s institutional application focuses on two actors, the soldier and the state, recent criticism of this two-actor approach requires an expansion to include the actors beyond the state (e.g., United Nations, coalitions) that influence contemporary military operations. This article adopts the principal-agent framework to examine the case of Kosovo, with quantitative and qualitative data collected from key military commanders from the United States and United Kingdom. Using their experience, this article explores the relationships found outside the two-actor model: between soldiers and actors beyond the state. We argue that variation exists in the relationships and that nationality provides some clues why this variation is observed. Furthermore, terms are introduced ( specified, implied, defied, and denied relationships) to more accurately describe these principal-agent relationships.