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Description & Citation--Study No. 7595

Bibliographic Description

ICPSR Study No.:7595
 
Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07595
 
Title:Political Use of the United States Armed Forces, 1946-1976
 
Principal Investigator(s):Stephen Kaplan
 
  Barry Blechman
 
Funding Agency:Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
 
Grant Number:2820
 
Bibliographic Citation:Kaplan, Stephen, and Barry Blechman. Political Use of the United States Armed Forces, 1946-1976 [Computer file]. ICPSR07595-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1978. doi:10.3886/ICPSR07595
 

Scope of Study

Summary:The data in this collection were generated in 1976 as part of a Brookings Institution project studying the use of the United States Armed Forces as a political instrument. By the study's definition, political use of the armed forces occurs when physical actions are taken by one or more components of the uniformed military services as part of a deliberate attempt by the national authorities to influence, or to be prepared to influence, specific behavior of individuals in another nation without engaging in a contest of violence. The study yielded 226 such cases between January 1, 1946, and December 31, 1976. The data can be grouped into seven categories: dates of the events, contextual characteristics of events, types and sizes of United States Armed Forces involved, movement and readiness of forces, activities of forces, non-United States actors involved, and United States public approval of the president within two months of the event.
 
Subject Term(s):arms race, armed forces, Cold War, disputes, international politics, military civilian relations, military strategies, military strength, politics, public approval, presidential performance
 
Geographic Coverage:United States
 
Time Period:1946 - 1976
 
Date(s) of Collection:1975 - 1976
 
Universe:All incidents (226) in which United States armed forces were used as a discrete political instrument between 1946 and 1976.
 
Data Type:aggregate data, and event/transaction data
 

Methodology

Data Source:(1) official records of military organizations such as air force, fleet, and division histories, (2) chronologies of international events such as the quarterly chronology in the MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL, and (3) secondary sources, including various events data files, and compilations of United States military activities prepared for other purposes.
 

Access and Availability

Note:A list of the data formats available for this study can be found in the summary of holdings. Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.
 
Original ICPSR Release:1984-05-03
 
Dataset(s):
  • DS1: Political Use of the United States Armed Forces, 1946-1976
 

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