Shutting Down the Cold War

Between 1989 and 1995, commissioners closed down almost 100 military bases. The process was hailed as a means to "take politics out of base closure," and it succeeded insofar as surplus bases closed after a ten-year hiatus. But the author of this volume asserts that the politics of base protection continued. David Sorenson finds that the most powerful congressional representatives protected bases in their states and districts, and as a consequence the military never got as many bases closed as they desired. He unveils the political factors behind the process of military base closure, using three analytical models to examine the different levels of response to the procedure. He also reveals the ways in which base closure is a classic example of governmental reduction, to be studied for lessons about both the benefits and the hazards of government contraction.