Spring 2027

The Civil-military Paradox in U.s. Politics and Society

Explores the paradoxical relationship between civilian authority and military institutions in democracies, focusing on U.S. civil-military relations and their impact on society.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 4

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.85 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.94 GPA, 96.2% A/AB (n=53 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.93 GPA, 98.1% A/AB (n=54 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Demonstrate a critical understanding of the Civil Military Paradox and the complex web of relationships that link the American public, civil authority, and the U.S. armed forces. Articulate an appreciation for why the paradox and civil-military relationships are important.

  • Demonstrate how civil-military relations (CMR) impact our personal, professional, and civic lives.

  • Comprehend and apply the vocabulary and theoretical concepts that inform our understanding of civil-military relations.

  • Explain how big ideas, historical experiences, and wider trends shape civil-military relations in the United States. These considerations include:(a.)the U.S. Constitution(b.)national culture (core assumptions, values, and beliefs)(c.) public sentiment(d.)partisan political debates (e.)the domestic and international environments (political, security, economic, social)(f.)issues of equity/inclusion

  • Address critical issues and debates related to civil-military relations in U.S. politics and society—past, present, and future.

  • Demonstrate how to think critically and write effectively. Respond to contemporary civil-military issues by developing recommendations for action. Support these recommendations with properly interpreted evidence and sound argument.

  • Produce research and analysis that deepens our understanding of the issues, theory, and/or practice of civil-military relations

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
POLISCI 338

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.85 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.94 GPA, 96.2% A/AB (n=53 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.93 GPA, 98.1% A/AB (n=54 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Civilian and military perspectives in U.S. civil-military relations, including military advice and challenges to civil authority.
  • Tensions from shared national security responsibility among executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
  • Garrison state hypothesis, draft versus all-volunteer force debates, equity and inclusion, and the civil-military gap.

Skills

  • Apply vocabulary and theoretical concepts related to civil-military relations.
  • Develop recommendations supported by interpreted evidence and sound argument.
  • Produce research and analysis on civil-military relations issues and theory.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

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AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "ab223017e89d7d98ff86ba6140ab15f277e41d5f342447805710de20827463b8",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}