In the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, military planners speak at great
length about the importance of rebalancing our armed forces. As a result
of the Budget Control Act of 2011, our U.S. Armed Forces have absorbed
significant budget cuts, which are projected to continue into 2016. Not
surprisingly, a major theme of the Quadrennial Defense Review is the
necessity of making tough choices in a period of fiscal austerity.1 As
Dr. Manjikian's analysis points out, however, many of the themes raised
by policymakers, military analysts and the general public in relation to
this new politics of austerity are not actually new. Rather, such
conversations have taken place at the end of U.S. military actions after
the Korean War, in Vietnam, and at the end of the Cold War