Pub Date : 2022-02-08DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211058765
Nathaniel Allen, Risa A. Brooks
This article unpacks the phenomenon of identity-based stacking in armed forces to lay the groundwork for a next generation of scholarship, proposing three sets of extensions with examples from regimes in Africa and the Middle East. First, we argue that scholars might treat the concept of stacking with greater nuance by considering variation in stacking’s modal forms, incorporating identities beyond ethnicity, considering how the salience of stacking varies within armed forces, and treating the identities on which stacking is based as malleable. Second, we argue for a more attention to the mechanisms through which stacking operates, such that it can involve layering of multiple bases of identity, be used to manipulate and manufacture identity, and be used to induce in-group competition and rivalry. Finally, stacking scholarship should consider more the costs to a leader’s control over policy and distributional matters and emphasize the trade-offs that various forms of stacking generate among regime security imperatives.
{"title":"Unpacking “Stacking”: Researching Political Identity and Regime Security in Armed Forces","authors":"Nathaniel Allen, Risa A. Brooks","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211058765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211058765","url":null,"abstract":"This article unpacks the phenomenon of identity-based stacking in armed forces to lay the groundwork for a next generation of scholarship, proposing three sets of extensions with examples from regimes in Africa and the Middle East. First, we argue that scholars might treat the concept of stacking with greater nuance by considering variation in stacking’s modal forms, incorporating identities beyond ethnicity, considering how the salience of stacking varies within armed forces, and treating the identities on which stacking is based as malleable. Second, we argue for a more attention to the mechanisms through which stacking operates, such that it can involve layering of multiple bases of identity, be used to manipulate and manufacture identity, and be used to induce in-group competition and rivalry. Finally, stacking scholarship should consider more the costs to a leader’s control over policy and distributional matters and emphasize the trade-offs that various forms of stacking generate among regime security imperatives.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"1 1","pages":"207 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83152373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-05DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211043917
H. Biehl
The article presents an empirical analysis of whether, how, and why people are active to either support or protest against the Bundeswehr. Public opinion polls consistently report high levels of trust in the military. According to the social-psychological approach of participation theory, this trust should lead to corresponding actions. However, the literature on civil–military gaps claims that the majority of people pay mere lip service to soldiers rather than actively support the armed forces. No active support despite high levels of trust? In an effort to empirically test the level and the determinants of the public’s support for and protest against the military, an activity scale was included in a representative opinion poll in Germany. The analyses show that a fairly large part of the German population engages in activities that support the Bundeswehr and that public trust in the military predicts that supportive behavior. Importantly, trust in the armed forces remains a strong predictor of citizens’ activities related to the armed forces even when controlling for numerous other factors. Taken together, these findings contradict the widely shared view of a civil–military gap and instead provide empirical evidence for the social-psychological approach of participation theory.
{"title":"Just Paying Lip Service? Public Trust and Public Support for Armed Forces in Germany","authors":"H. Biehl","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211043917","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211043917","url":null,"abstract":"The article presents an empirical analysis of whether, how, and why people are active to either support or protest against the Bundeswehr. Public opinion polls consistently report high levels of trust in the military. According to the social-psychological approach of participation theory, this trust should lead to corresponding actions. However, the literature on civil–military gaps claims that the majority of people pay mere lip service to soldiers rather than actively support the armed forces. No active support despite high levels of trust? In an effort to empirically test the level and the determinants of the public’s support for and protest against the military, an activity scale was included in a representative opinion poll in Germany. The analyses show that a fairly large part of the German population engages in activities that support the Bundeswehr and that public trust in the military predicts that supportive behavior. Importantly, trust in the armed forces remains a strong predictor of citizens’ activities related to the armed forces even when controlling for numerous other factors. Taken together, these findings contradict the widely shared view of a civil–military gap and instead provide empirical evidence for the social-psychological approach of participation theory.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"56 1","pages":"395 - 418"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80428046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-05DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211069162
Sarah O. Meadows, Robin L. Beckman, C. Engel, D. Jeffery
Excessive alcohol use, especially binge and heavy drinking, represents a serious threat to force readiness across the Department of Defense. Though these behaviors are a matter of individual service member choice, they are influenced by perceptions of the culture of alcohol use in the military. This paper uses data from the 2018 Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty service members to explore associations between perceived alcohol culture and excessive alcohol use, any serious drinking consequences, risky driving behaviors, productivity loss due to drinking, absenteeism, and presenteeism. Results from multivariate logistic regression reveal a strong, positive correlation between positive perceptions of drinking culture in the military and all outcomes. Targeting perceptions of the drinking culture is one way the military can reduce excessive and unhealthy use of alcohol and negative sequelae.
{"title":"The Culture of Alcohol in the U.S. Military: Correlations With Problematic Drinking Behaviors and Negative Consequences of Alcohol Use","authors":"Sarah O. Meadows, Robin L. Beckman, C. Engel, D. Jeffery","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211069162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211069162","url":null,"abstract":"Excessive alcohol use, especially binge and heavy drinking, represents a serious threat to force readiness across the Department of Defense. Though these behaviors are a matter of individual service member choice, they are influenced by perceptions of the culture of alcohol use in the military. This paper uses data from the 2018 Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty service members to explore associations between perceived alcohol culture and excessive alcohol use, any serious drinking consequences, risky driving behaviors, productivity loss due to drinking, absenteeism, and presenteeism. Results from multivariate logistic regression reveal a strong, positive correlation between positive perceptions of drinking culture in the military and all outcomes. Targeting perceptions of the drinking culture is one way the military can reduce excessive and unhealthy use of alcohol and negative sequelae.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"1 1","pages":"531 - 555"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78880393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-29DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211072894
Temitope B. Oriola
This study interrogates the experiences of Nigerian troops in the war against Boko Haram. The paper’s contribution is bi-dimensional. First, it adds to the empirical literature on Boko Haram by analyzing the perspectives of rank-and-file troops. The study finds 10 forms of corruption affecting troops. These have contributed to the inability to defeat Boko Haram. Second, the paper adds to theoretical scholarship on civil–military relations and persistence of small wars. It challenges the bureaucratic-organizational model and the focus of civil–military relations theory on civilian control of the military. The study emphasizes the need to focus on the texture of the relationship between civilian and military leaders. The paper argues that the bureaucratic-organizational model has limited relevance to militaries in the postcolony and proposes a civilian–military leadership interest convergence thesis. The findings are relevant for understanding the spread of terrorism in sub-Saharan Africa and the persistence of small wars in non-Western, illiberal quasi-democratic societies.
{"title":"Nigerian Troops in the War Against Boko Haram: The Civilian–Military Leadership Interest Convergence Thesis","authors":"Temitope B. Oriola","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211072894","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211072894","url":null,"abstract":"This study interrogates the experiences of Nigerian troops in the war against Boko Haram. The paper’s contribution is bi-dimensional. First, it adds to the empirical literature on Boko Haram by analyzing the perspectives of rank-and-file troops. The study finds 10 forms of corruption affecting troops. These have contributed to the inability to defeat Boko Haram. Second, the paper adds to theoretical scholarship on civil–military relations and persistence of small wars. It challenges the bureaucratic-organizational model and the focus of civil–military relations theory on civilian control of the military. The study emphasizes the need to focus on the texture of the relationship between civilian and military leaders. The paper argues that the bureaucratic-organizational model has limited relevance to militaries in the postcolony and proposes a civilian–military leadership interest convergence thesis. The findings are relevant for understanding the spread of terrorism in sub-Saharan Africa and the persistence of small wars in non-Western, illiberal quasi-democratic societies.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"78 1","pages":"275 - 309"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88337074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-27DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211070321
R. Phillips, Vincent Connelly, M. Burgess
Evidence suggests that UK veterans are seen as victims with concern for their perceived mental health needs. This study examined sociodemographic factors that contribute to victimizing conceptualizations of British Army Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. UK participants (N = 234) provided three word associations to “British Army Iraq Veteran” and “British Army Afghanistan Veteran” and answered sociodemographic questions. A multiple linear regression outlines that low national pride, mission opposition and higher levels of education predict elevated victimizing word associations. Narrative accounts from UK interviews (N = 21) suggest that participants who perceived the recent conflicts as illegitimate conceptualize veterans as passive, naïve actors who had to submit to the agency of the anthropomorphic described government. This allowed holding overtly appreciative though belittling attitudes toward veterans, while opposing the missions. To dissociate veterans from victimizing perceptions, better knowledge about service and justifications for deployments need to be provided. Study limitations, including over sampling of young adult females, are discussed.
{"title":"How do Sociodemographic Characteristics Influence UK Civilian Opinions of UK Armed Forces Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans? A Mixed-Method Approach","authors":"R. Phillips, Vincent Connelly, M. Burgess","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211070321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211070321","url":null,"abstract":"Evidence suggests that UK veterans are seen as victims with concern for their perceived mental health needs. This study examined sociodemographic factors that contribute to victimizing conceptualizations of British Army Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. UK participants (N = 234) provided three word associations to “British Army Iraq Veteran” and “British Army Afghanistan Veteran” and answered sociodemographic questions. A multiple linear regression outlines that low national pride, mission opposition and higher levels of education predict elevated victimizing word associations. Narrative accounts from UK interviews (N = 21) suggest that participants who perceived the recent conflicts as illegitimate conceptualize veterans as passive, naïve actors who had to submit to the agency of the anthropomorphic described government. This allowed holding overtly appreciative though belittling attitudes toward veterans, while opposing the missions. To dissociate veterans from victimizing perceptions, better knowledge about service and justifications for deployments need to be provided. Study limitations, including over sampling of young adult females, are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"32 1 1","pages":"419 - 445"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82158944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-27DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211068875
Sara Kintzle, Eva Alday, Adrianne Clomax, M. Barak, C. Castro
The promotion of inclusion in the U.S. Army requires an understanding of how and why exclusion occurs. As exclusion can have deleterious impacts at both and individual and organizational level, reducing exclusive behaviors can have positive effects on Soldiers and the Army. To explore exclusion in the Army, 19 focus groups were conducted with 120 active-duty enlisted Soldiers. Two rounds of thematic analysis revealed four themes related to exclusion. Participants indicated exclusion to be often based on low or bad performance, personality factors that were identified as different or toxic, cliques within the Army unwilling to welcome others, and gender, with both men and women identifying exclusionary behaviors toward women within and outside of the work environment. Research findings offer insight into how and why exclusion occurs and how such behaviors can be addressed in the U.S. Army including training and addressing cultural and systemic barriers to inclusion.
{"title":"Factors Related to Exclusion in the U.S. Army","authors":"Sara Kintzle, Eva Alday, Adrianne Clomax, M. Barak, C. Castro","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211068875","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211068875","url":null,"abstract":"The promotion of inclusion in the U.S. Army requires an understanding of how and why exclusion occurs. As exclusion can have deleterious impacts at both and individual and organizational level, reducing exclusive behaviors can have positive effects on Soldiers and the Army. To explore exclusion in the Army, 19 focus groups were conducted with 120 active-duty enlisted Soldiers. Two rounds of thematic analysis revealed four themes related to exclusion. Participants indicated exclusion to be often based on low or bad performance, personality factors that were identified as different or toxic, cliques within the Army unwilling to welcome others, and gender, with both men and women identifying exclusionary behaviors toward women within and outside of the work environment. Research findings offer insight into how and why exclusion occurs and how such behaviors can be addressed in the U.S. Army including training and addressing cultural and systemic barriers to inclusion.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"231 - 251"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82702863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-25DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211072892
Trent J. Lythgoe
The U.S. military’s nonpartisan norms are an important part of healthy civil–military relations. Some research, however, suggest these norms are weakening. This study examines the evidence for eroding nonpartisan norms by analyzing U.S. military servicemembers’ partisan affiliations and political activism levels from 2008 to 2018. It finds that since 2008, military servicemembers have become more likely to identify as partisans. Servicemembers have also become more politically active than civilians, although this is due to decreasing activism among the American public. It also finds that longer-serving service members have stronger nonpartisan norms, but that newer servicemembers are more politically active than both longer-serving servicemembers and civilians. These findings provide a firmer empirical foundation for previous claims of eroding norms and suggest more research is needed to understand how increased partisanship and political activism impacts military readiness and civil–military relations.
{"title":"Are the U.S. Military’s Nonpartisan Norms Eroding?","authors":"Trent J. Lythgoe","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211072892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211072892","url":null,"abstract":"The U.S. military’s nonpartisan norms are an important part of healthy civil–military relations. Some research, however, suggest these norms are weakening. This study examines the evidence for eroding nonpartisan norms by analyzing U.S. military servicemembers’ partisan affiliations and political activism levels from 2008 to 2018. It finds that since 2008, military servicemembers have become more likely to identify as partisans. Servicemembers have also become more politically active than civilians, although this is due to decreasing activism among the American public. It also finds that longer-serving service members have stronger nonpartisan norms, but that newer servicemembers are more politically active than both longer-serving servicemembers and civilians. These findings provide a firmer empirical foundation for previous claims of eroding norms and suggest more research is needed to understand how increased partisanship and political activism impacts military readiness and civil–military relations.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"4 1","pages":"310 - 329"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83761349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-08DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211065490
Joseph Paul Vasquez, Walter W. Napier
Research suggests that marginalized groups can use military service to win greater governmental and social acceptance by using civic republican rhetoric, however, conditions in which claims-making rhetoric is coercive are underspecified. Because rhetorical effectiveness requires sympathetic ears, we examine the influence of (1) expectations and political efforts of marginalized group members seeking greater acceptance, (2) whether majority group economic status is outpacing marginalized groups seeking improved treatment, and (3) whether marginalized groups have influential military veterans from majority groups as allies. We apply these factors to explain the claims-making failure of German Jews following the First World War and the success of African Americans after the Second World War. From the African American case, we also conclude that military service led to greater socio-political inclusion and rights based on development of future political actors through leadership development processes and inter-group contact, especially regarding Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.
{"title":"Band of Brothers or Band of Others?: Rhetoric, Veterans, and Civil Rights Fights in Germany and the United States","authors":"Joseph Paul Vasquez, Walter W. Napier","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211065490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211065490","url":null,"abstract":"Research suggests that marginalized groups can use military service to win greater governmental and social acceptance by using civic republican rhetoric, however, conditions in which claims-making rhetoric is coercive are underspecified. Because rhetorical effectiveness requires sympathetic ears, we examine the influence of (1) expectations and political efforts of marginalized group members seeking greater acceptance, (2) whether majority group economic status is outpacing marginalized groups seeking improved treatment, and (3) whether marginalized groups have influential military veterans from majority groups as allies. We apply these factors to explain the claims-making failure of German Jews following the First World War and the success of African Americans after the Second World War. From the African American case, we also conclude that military service led to greater socio-political inclusion and rights based on development of future political actors through leadership development processes and inter-group contact, especially regarding Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"34 1","pages":"446 - 469"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74218145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-07DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211064917
Aluma Kepten
How does secrecy shape narratives of militarized hegemonic masculinity? This article assesses a gap at the intersection between theories of masculinities and organizational secrecy. Supported by 15 interviews with current and former male workers of a covert section of an Israeli national security organization, it argues that secrecy is experienced as both an external hurdle and a central component to the way that men internalize masculinity. Unable to access social capital outside the security organization, the respondents of the study construct a social field inside it through which they can assert their masculinity. They do so by conceptualizing their jobs, themselves, and the organization through a prism of sacrificial warriorhood, and actively incorporate secrecy’s constraints into a narrative of “super-men”. This study thus examines secrecy in the context of a militarized environment, showing the experience of masculinity and a perceived lack of power-access among members of a dominant group.
{"title":"The “Supermen” Club: Organizational Secrecy and Masculine Identity in an Israeli National Security Organization","authors":"Aluma Kepten","doi":"10.1177/0095327X211064917","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211064917","url":null,"abstract":"How does secrecy shape narratives of militarized hegemonic masculinity? This article assesses a gap at the intersection between theories of masculinities and organizational secrecy. Supported by 15 interviews with current and former male workers of a covert section of an Israeli national security organization, it argues that secrecy is experienced as both an external hurdle and a central component to the way that men internalize masculinity. Unable to access social capital outside the security organization, the respondents of the study construct a social field inside it through which they can assert their masculinity. They do so by conceptualizing their jobs, themselves, and the organization through a prism of sacrificial warriorhood, and actively incorporate secrecy’s constraints into a narrative of “super-men”. This study thus examines secrecy in the context of a militarized environment, showing the experience of masculinity and a perceived lack of power-access among members of a dominant group.","PeriodicalId":47332,"journal":{"name":"Armed Forces & Society","volume":"17 1","pages":"330 - 349"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78430383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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