{
"authors": [
"Kelly Sims Gallagher",
"Daniel Drezner",
"Saskia Brechenmacher",
"Kori Schake",
"Eliot A. Cohen"
],
"type": "event",
"centerAffiliationAll": "",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "",
"regions": [
"United States"
],
"topics": [
"Military",
"Democracy",
"Security",
"Domestic Politics",
"Civil Society"
]
}
The State of Civil-Military Relations in 2026 and Beyond
Wed, February 18th, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM (EST)
In Person and Live Online
Invalid video URL
The U.S. military’s professionalism and deference to civilian authority are considered to be exceptional by global standards. Even as trust in American institutions has decreased in recent years, public confidence in the military remains high. In recent years, however, shifts in U.S. domestic politics have put pressure on that apolitical ethos.
As the Trump administration pursues a national security strategy and internal security strategy that deviates from historical norms, how will the U.S. military respond? Will soldiers resist orders that might be considered legally dubious? And what parallels can be drawn between the United States and other democracies around the world experiencing similar shifts? Join The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to examine these and other questions in a discussion on civil-military relations in honor of the late Richard H. Shultz, the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School.
The Fletcher School Academic Dean and Distinguished Professor of International Politics Daniel Drezner will discuss this topic with a panel of experts featuring Saskia Brechenmacher, a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Kori Schake, director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, and Eliot A. Cohen, the Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Kelly Sims Gallagher, dean and professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at The Fletcher School and nonresident scholar in Carnegie’s Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program, will deliver opening remarks.
A reception will follow the conversation.
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
Event Speakers
Kelly Sims Gallagher
Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program
Kelly Sims Gallagher is a nonresident scholar in the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment and is dean, professor of energy and environmental policy, and director of the Center for International Environment & Resource Policy, at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Daniel Drezner
Academic Dean and Distinguished Professor of International Politics, The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Daniel W. Drezner is professor of International Politics, a nonresident senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the co-director of Fletcher's Russia and Eurasia Program. Prior to joining The Fletcher School at Tufts University, he taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Saskia Brechenmacher
Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program
Saskia Brechenmacher is a PhD candidate and Gates Cambridge scholar at the University of Cambridge and a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, where her research focuses on gender, civil society, and democratic governance.
Kori Schake
Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Kori Schake is a senior fellow and the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Before joining AEI, Dr. Schake was the deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. She has had a distinguished career in government, working at the US State Department, the US Department of Defense, and the National Security Council at the White House. She was also senior policy advisor on the 2008 McCain campaign. She has taught at Stanford, West Point, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and the University of Maryland.
Eliot A. Cohen
Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Eliot A. Cohen is the Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught for 34 years and served as dean of the School of Advanced International Studies. In addition to serving in the Department of Defense’s Policy Planning Staff he was Counselor of the Department of State in 2007-2009.