{"title":"Military Professionalism, Power, and the Division of Labor: The Case of the Reintroduction of NCOs in the Swedish Armed Forces","authors":"C. Dandeker, Karl Ydén","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221108761","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221108761","url":null,"abstract":"While noncommissioned officers (NCOs) are hailed as the “backbone” of the world’s armed forces, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to them compared with the officer corps. NCOs have been at the margins of social scientific literature, largely because of Huntington’s officer-centric concept of the military profession, which was based on a sharp division of roles and which excluded NCOs as well as reservists and soldiers. This article holds that the officer–NCO relationship is not a functional, timeless universal in military organizations and thus merits scholarly attention. The (re)introduction of NCO-style “Specialist Officers” in the Swedish Armed Forces is used to highlight how organizational and technological factors affect the division of labor between officers and NCOs and the text ends with a call for comparative research efforts on the category of NCOs.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134404707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Limit of American Public Support for Military Intervention","authors":"Songying Fang, Jared Oestman","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221107700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221107700","url":null,"abstract":"Under what conditions is the American public supportive of U.S. military intervention in foreign crises? We argue that the public assesses three key dimensions of an intervention: the motivation for an intervention, the form an intervention can take, and the tasks an intervention may be mandated to fulfill. Through a survey experiment, we test several hypotheses in the context of a potential U.S. military intervention in a civil war. Comparing different motivations, we find that the strategies (forms and mandates) matter much more for public support. Regardless of motivation, the American public is generally more supportive of multilateral forms of intervention and prefers mandates that focus on the protection of civilians and peaceful conflict resolution.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127035873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
N. Barr, V. Albert, Amanda Peterson, Lara Berghammer, Sara Kintzle
{"title":"Making Ends Meet: Employment, Cash Transfers, and Poverty in Post–9/11 Era Wounded Military Veterans","authors":"N. Barr, V. Albert, Amanda Peterson, Lara Berghammer, Sara Kintzle","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221107392","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221107392","url":null,"abstract":"Over 36% of post–9/11 era veterans have a disability, but little research has examined wounded veterans’ finances. We investigated main and interaction effects of income sources and demographic, military, and mental health characteristics on household poverty and deep poverty to better understand wounded veterans’ financial outcomes. Data were drawn from the 2018 Wounded Warrior Survey ( n = 33,067). Two logistic regression models investigated direct associations between independent variables and poverty outcomes; predictive margins and average marginal effects were calculated for employment and cash transfers on outcomes. 56% of respondents reported full- or part-time employment, and 17% met criteria for household poverty. Of those, 75% met criteria for deep poverty. Cash transfers were negatively associated with poverty and deep poverty, and part-time employment was positively associated with poverty compared with not working. Employment was insufficient protection against poverty in this sample of wounded veterans—transfers were a critical bulwark.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122236782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Civil–Military Relations: Through a Perilous Lens","authors":"V. Banerjee, Sean Webeck","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221108198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221108198","url":null,"abstract":"Since Huntington’s seminal work The Soldier and the State, the scholarship on civil–military relations in the American context has often emphasized the need for a professional military to maintain an apolitical stance and let the civilian principals lead. In this article, we ask, what can we learn about civil-military relations by seeking to better understand the relationship between political institutions and the politicization of the military? We argue that this literature insufficiently accounts for the perils that exist within separation of powers (i.e., presidential) systems. Consequently, the existing scholarship cannot distinguish when politicization happens because of or despite civilian principals. We use long-standing arguments from Comparative Politics to explain why problems of separation of powers systems are endemic to these institutions. We then present five questions and two examples to facilitate a theoretical reframing of the subject. Our argument suggests more work is needed to understand how American political institutions shape civil–military relations.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128880607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Power Sharing and Coups d’état in Postconflict Settings: Evidence From Burundi and Guinea-Bissau","authors":"Erica De Bruin","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221108370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221108370","url":null,"abstract":"In postconflict settings, peace agreements often include power-sharing provisions that integrate formerly warring parties into the state. The aim of such provisions is to prevent conflict from resuming. At the same time, however, they can inadvertently increase the risk of coups d’état. Existing research identifies a correlation between peace agreements and coups, but the causal mechanisms underlying this association remain underexplored. This article argues that power sharing affects the motives of incumbent elites to intervene in politics via a coup and the opportunity for former rebels to do so successfully. Evidence from coup attempts in Burundi and Guinea-Bissau illustrates the plausibility of these arguments and suggests ways to extend them in future work. While debate remains over whether power sharing prevents civil war recurrence, this article shows how it can create incentives for other forms of political violence.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"148 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132173436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Civil–Military Relations During the Trump Administration: Rejection of Military Professionalism and the Deterioration of Civil–Military Relations","authors":"J. Binkley","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221106783","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221106783","url":null,"abstract":"The period of Donald Trump’s term in office was one of the most contentious periods of American civil–military relations. Both active-duty and retired officers rebuffed and castigated the president’s actions, policies, and character. Such public criticism of a sitting president has no real parallel in American history. This breakdown in civil–military relations was caused by the president’s lack of respect and in fact disdain for the contours of military professionalism. Those contours are expressed by the attributes of expertise, corporateness, and responsibility. The military’s notion of commitment to the Constitution, an apolitical ethos, as well as its willingness to sacrifice for the national good were all part of the military’s own sense of professional values. In this case, the sitting president shared none of those values and tried to politicize the military, ignored their expertise, and disparaged their selfless sacrifice.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127764061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Military Propensity Among Israel Defense Forces’ Potential Conscripts: A Re-Examination and Differentiation by Personal Preferences of Enlistment Motivation","authors":"Anat Waldman, Roni Tiargan-Orr, R. Gal","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221101331","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221101331","url":null,"abstract":"Israel, a unique case in the Western world, maintains a whole-mandatory military service, thus maintaining a “People’s Army” model. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) enjoys a law-based compulsory recruitment system. Despite many significant changes occurring in recent decades, the motivation of Israeli youth to fulfill their military service has remained quite high and stable throughout the last decades. To understand the issues affecting the perpetuation of this trend over the years, this study suggests a new perspective of analyzing military motivation and its components. Utilizing a large survey sample of potential candidates for mandatory conscription, we analyzed both conscripts’ general willingness to enlist and their propensities toward and preference for specific types of service. The findings of the present study query Moskos’ original thesis of the Institution/Occupation (I/O) model and show the “coexistence” subsisting among Israeli youth between two seemingly conflicting propensities—the “Self-actualization” and “Contributing to nation’s security.”","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134164678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Civil–Military Relations and Education of Military Elites in Türkiye: Lessons Learned From the Past","authors":"Barış Ateş","doi":"10.1177/0095327x221103294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327x221103294","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyzes the relationship between civil–military relations and professional military education (PME) in Türkiye before the 2016 coup attempt. Its main argument is that an effective PME system could not be realized due to the problematic nature of civil–military relations. The dominant role of the military in politics turned PME into a domain reserved solely for soldiers; however, this autonomy did not help the officer corps to create an effective PME system. Based on historical analyses, this article concludes that civil–military cooperation is necessary for developing a successful PME system, and it endorses Mukherjee’s integrated model. Moreover, it shows that civil–military cooperation for the development of PME is a requirement regardless of the nature of civil–military relations.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133386850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identifying service-related predictors of community reintegration difficulties in Northern Irish military Veterans","authors":"E. Spikol","doi":"10.31219/osf.io/ckvpx","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/ckvpx","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Military-to-civilian community reintegration in Northern Irish (NI) veterans has not been previously examined. Existing reintegration studies indicate that post-military service life can be challenging for many veterans. Objective: The current study aimed to identify service-related predictors of community reintegration difficulties in a sample of 749 NI veterans. Method: Data was collected through a cross-sectional self-report survey of UK Armed Forces veterans residing in NI. Service-related variables were examined as predictors of overall and subdomain-specific reintegration difficulties. Results: Combat exposure, time spent deployed in NI, length of service, being medically discharged, and being physically injured during service were significant predictors of reintegration difficulties. Receiving a mental health diagnosis since discharge and having been medically discharged were the two strongest predictors. Further results and implications are also discussed. Conclusion: Post-service adjustment to civilian life is affected by service variables, with implications for military/post-military interventions aimed at mitigating difficult transition experiences.","PeriodicalId":130147,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127219909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}