Books about: History of non-hierarchical militaries / military organization

[Justanotherbiblophile]

I've read that prior to the American Revolutionary war, when troops were mobilized - they'd elect their own leaders - and thus there was a lot of politicing going on in making military decisions.

Are there any books about how this was done, and how effective it was?

I listened to a talk about how US WWII military leadership was completely revamped (from a fourth world military, to a first world one), and how leaders needed to interact with actual political, economic, and military equals when operating in alliances (not something that's been done since). This seems akin to the above: You can't just make military decisions, for mere military reason: you had to do politics.

I've also done some interesting reading in articles, about how muslim third-world military power relies on tribal, and other types of organization (honor, etc), and how first world militaries can't compete on a moral / dedication axis - and can only 'win' by massive firepower, and economic disparities. (ie: one side cannot 'win' a war: both sides have to decide it's over | US hasn't won a war since WWII | draining treasure with quagmires is a way to bring on collapse of 'victors', and re-equalize the economic disparities | if you've got nothing to lose, you have everything to gain)

So I'd like to read more about other systems of organized force - versus conscript/draft and hierarchical/top-down military systems (which seems to be all of the of the books I'm finding). Most Western militaries seem to be organized along these lines, and they export this thinking to banana Republics and authoritarian regimes. Many of the remaining militaries are mere criminal enterprises operating under uniform, awaiting their chance to coup, and getting bribed / paid off while extorting populace.

I'm also interested in how the Soviet union was able to integrate many disparate cultures into a (seemingly) functioning military (but perhaps that's the opposite: severe hierarchy to force disparate elements into the appearance of a unified whole).