The weapon systems created for the purpose of fighting the enemy in World War I caused terrible losses of human life on all sides of the conflict. However, World War I was also the event that gave birth to what became the field of Military Psychology. This position article, briefly tracing the development of the field, encourages the development of an expanded scope for this sub-discipline of Psychology. In its infancy, the role of Military Psychology was the selection and placement of soldiers based on a series of cognitive tests. After World War II, the scope of Military Psychology quickly expanded exponentially into areas such as leadership development, psychological warfare, and the enhancement of morale, motivation, resilience, and human , as Military Psychology with its sub-disciplines became integrated into national military forces to enhance the capabilities of the modern fighting soldier psychologically, physically and technologically. As the discipline matured, its present role can be described as to create soldiers whose skills sets greatly surpass those of their predecessors in meeting the ever-increasing complex demands of the modern battlefield. In recent years, Afghanistan and Iraq that conventional warfare tactics are rendered all but obsolete by small numbers of militia fighters with improvised devices and even outdated weapons in a demonstration of human ingenuity trumping advanced technology and well-equipped, superior military forces that inevitably failed dismally to subdue insurgent opposition forces. Even the destruction of the forces serves to emphasise that the world can no longer afford to continue armed conflict as a means to settle territorial and international disagreements because these eventually become the rationalisation for ongoing, unnecessary conflict. In its contribution to the defence role, alternatives to engagement in ill-advised military options must involve the strategic deployment of Military Psychology in a front-line capacity to research, comprehend and then, through diplomatic means, counter the psychological and ideological factors at play in creating the world’s current conflict areas. If not, an even greater catastrophe will arise from ongoing ill-informed, ideology-driven international military interventions around the world.
{"title":"Military Psychology: Time to embrace a front-line diplomatic role","authors":"Jacques J Gouws","doi":"10.5787/50-2-1372","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/50-2-1372","url":null,"abstract":"The weapon systems created for the purpose of fighting the enemy in World War I caused terrible losses of human life on all sides of the conflict. However, World War I was also the event that gave birth to what became the field of Military Psychology. This position article, briefly tracing the development of the field, encourages the development of an expanded scope for this sub-discipline of Psychology. In its infancy, the role of Military Psychology was the selection and placement of soldiers based on a series of cognitive tests. After World War II, the scope of Military Psychology quickly expanded exponentially into areas such as leadership development, psychological warfare, and the enhancement of morale, motivation, resilience, and human , as Military Psychology with its sub-disciplines became integrated into national military forces to enhance the capabilities of the modern fighting soldier psychologically, physically and technologically. As the discipline matured, its present role can be described as to create soldiers whose skills sets greatly surpass those of their predecessors in meeting the ever-increasing complex demands of the modern battlefield. In recent years, Afghanistan and Iraq that conventional warfare tactics are rendered all but obsolete by small numbers of militia fighters with improvised devices and even outdated weapons in a demonstration of human ingenuity trumping advanced technology and well-equipped, superior military forces that inevitably failed dismally to subdue insurgent opposition forces. Even the destruction of the forces serves to emphasise that the world can no longer afford to continue armed conflict as a means to settle territorial and international disagreements because these eventually become the rationalisation for ongoing, unnecessary conflict. In its contribution to the defence role, alternatives to engagement in ill-advised military options must involve the strategic deployment of Military Psychology in a front-line capacity to research, comprehend and then, through diplomatic means, counter the psychological and ideological factors at play in creating the world’s current conflict areas. If not, an even greater catastrophe will arise from ongoing ill-informed, ideology-driven international military interventions around the world.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"143 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82618545","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. Visagie, Renier Armand du Toit, Didi Zungu, D. Schoeman, Stéphanie Joubert
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has operational responsibilities in Africa regarding peace support operations. These deployments are the bread and butter of the SANDF and members are therefore frequently deployed for extended periods. These deployments are unique environments with taxing circumstances, which place various psychological demands on the soldier. The psychological impact of these demands originates not only from combat and the consequent clinical effect thereof, but also from organisational factors and the contribution of family stressors. The study reported here endeavoured to examine the positive and negative subjective deployment experiences of soldiers in two different mission areas. The data compared and further utilised to provide a framework of two proposed matrices, namely booster and stressor matrices, which may affect the optimal psychological functioning of soldiers. The study adopted a survey design utilising qualitative data focusing on retrospective data. The data stems from the Psychological Demobilisation Questionnaire developed by psychologists in the SANDF and amended by the authors. Data were collected from both combat service support and combat forces, from two different missions in different countries, both missions were one year in duration. Data revealed both positive and negative experiences correlating with the context of operations. These themes were categorised in terms of the sphere of functioning (organisational, family and clinical) from the deployment experience. The booster and stressor matrices provide a practical and accessible framework to military commanders on how to ‘boost’ or mitigate some of the experiences of their deployed force, as the commanders play a key role in the deployed soldier’s experience and the impact of such experiences in the theatre of operation.
{"title":"Comparing deployment experiences of South African National Defence Force personnel during peace support missions: Sudan vs Democratic Republic of Congo","authors":"N. Visagie, Renier Armand du Toit, Didi Zungu, D. Schoeman, Stéphanie Joubert","doi":"10.5787/50-2-1375","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/50-2-1375","url":null,"abstract":"The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has operational responsibilities in Africa regarding peace support operations. These deployments are the bread and butter of the SANDF and members are therefore frequently deployed for extended periods. These deployments are unique environments with taxing circumstances, which place various psychological demands on the soldier. The psychological impact of these demands originates not only from combat and the consequent clinical effect thereof, but also from organisational factors and the contribution of family stressors. The study reported here endeavoured to examine the positive and negative subjective deployment experiences of soldiers in two different mission areas. The data compared and further utilised to provide a framework of two proposed matrices, namely booster and stressor matrices, which may affect the optimal psychological functioning of soldiers. The study adopted a survey design utilising qualitative data focusing on retrospective data. The data stems from the Psychological Demobilisation Questionnaire developed by psychologists in the SANDF and amended by the authors. Data were collected from both combat service support and combat forces, from two different missions in different countries, both missions were one year in duration. Data revealed both positive and negative experiences correlating with the context of operations. These themes were categorised in terms of the sphere of functioning (organisational, family and clinical) from the deployment experience. The booster and stressor matrices provide a practical and accessible framework to military commanders on how to ‘boost’ or mitigate some of the experiences of their deployed force, as the commanders play a key role in the deployed soldier’s experience and the impact of such experiences in the theatre of operation.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80824871","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}
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF), as a member state of the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, has certain continental and regional responsibilities. It is foreseen that the main areas of influence and operations of the SANDF will be situated in Africa and are referred to as the African battlespace, which holds challenges for deploying military commanders. We argue that the elevated levels of complexity and uncertainty in this context make mission command, as a command approach, especially relevant. The conceptual study on which this article is based, found that mission command is highly suitable to promote a command culture that is flexible yet robust, fosters unity of command at all levels, and simultaneously provides subordinate commanders with the freedom to act decisively when new opportunities are identified. For mission command to be applied in the African battlespace, sensemaking is an important cognitive skill that should form an integral part of the psychological preparation and training of commanders. Recommendations are made for sensemaking development in the current training of commanders in the SANDF.
{"title":"Sensemaking training in preparation for effective mission command in the African battlespace","authors":"S. O’Neil, J. O'Neil","doi":"10.5787/50-2-1373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/50-2-1373","url":null,"abstract":"The South African National Defence Force (SANDF), as a member state of the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, has certain continental and regional responsibilities. It is foreseen that the main areas of influence and operations of the SANDF will be situated in Africa and are referred to as the African battlespace, which holds challenges for deploying military commanders. We argue that the elevated levels of complexity and uncertainty in this context make mission command, as a command approach, especially relevant. The conceptual study on which this article is based, found that mission command is highly suitable to promote a command culture that is flexible yet robust, fosters unity of command at all levels, and simultaneously provides subordinate commanders with the freedom to act decisively when new opportunities are identified. For mission command to be applied in the African battlespace, sensemaking is an important cognitive skill that should form an integral part of the psychological preparation and training of commanders. Recommendations are made for sensemaking development in the current training of commanders in the SANDF.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80219359","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":"Kansvatter: Die rustelose lewe van Ben Viljoen","authors":"Emile C. Coetzee","doi":"10.5787/49-2-1339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/49-2-1339","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86683530","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}
China’s Belt and Road Initiative continues to attract considerable attention from scholars and observers in diverse fields. However, students of the Belt and Road Initiative (‘the Initiative’) have focused extensively on the land and sea dimensions of this grand project while only tentatively touching on its other dimensions. This article draws attention to the digital and maritime dimensions of the Initiative, which are respectively known as the Digital Silk Road Initiative and the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Specifically, the article focuses on how artificial intelligence and big data, as promoted under the Digital Silk Road Initiative, intersect with the Maritime Silk Road Initiative to produce what the author refers to as Sea power 2.0. To contextualise this intersection, the article draws on patent data to show how artificial intelligence and big data are adopted in supply chains. The results from the patent analysis show that artificial intelligence and big data will play a crucial role in future supply chains, and hence, the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Although the article focuses mostly on the commercial side of Sea power 2.0, it concludes by pointing out how artificial intelligence and big data could serve military objectives.
{"title":"Artificial intelligence and big data in the Maritime Silk Road Initiative: The road towards Sea Power 2.0 The road towards seapower 4.0","authors":"Lungani Hlongwa","doi":"10.5787/49-2-1329","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/49-2-1329","url":null,"abstract":"China’s Belt and Road Initiative continues to attract considerable attention from scholars and observers in diverse fields. However, students of the Belt and Road Initiative (‘the Initiative’) have focused extensively on the land and sea dimensions of this grand project while only tentatively touching on its other dimensions. This article draws attention to the digital and maritime dimensions of the Initiative, which are respectively known as the Digital Silk Road Initiative and the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Specifically, the article focuses on how artificial intelligence and big data, as promoted under the Digital Silk Road Initiative, intersect with the Maritime Silk Road Initiative to produce what the author refers to as Sea power 2.0. To contextualise this intersection, the article draws on patent data to show how artificial intelligence and big data are adopted in supply chains. The results from the patent analysis show that artificial intelligence and big data will play a crucial role in future supply chains, and hence, the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Although the article focuses mostly on the commercial side of Sea power 2.0, it concludes by pointing out how artificial intelligence and big data could serve military objectives.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"190 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76101161","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}
The study of amphibious operations has seen a definite resurgence during recent years. The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan forced militaries to shift their focus from traditional operations to those of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. This shift in focus naturally affected the doctrine, organisation and employment of amphibious forces of Western militaries, such as the US Marine Corps and the British Royal Marines – who were both deployed in semi-conventional and counterinsurgency roles in Iraq and Afghanistan for extensive periods. However, after the end of these wars, both the US Marine Corps and the British Royal Marines had to go back to the proverbial drawing board and reassess their traditional roles as amphibious forces. Of interest, is the fact that in 2019, the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, General David H Berger, provided planning guidance in which he argued that the US Marines had to return to the sea, increase their naval integration, and expand their ability to fight not just from the sea but also in terms of sea control from the shore. 602 With this planning guidance, there was bound to be a drastic shift in the doctrine, organisation and employment of the US Marine Corps in general. While these developments were notable, they did not occur in a vacuum. Several militaries across the globe are currently reapplying their minds to amphibious operations and implementing drastic measures to remedy any potential shortfalls that exist in terms of doctrine, organisation and training. These changes are necessitated owing to the increasing likelihood of future amphibious operations due to an unprecedented population growth evidenced in coastal regions across the globe, the concomitant effects of climate change on existing waterways, rives and oceans, and growing political disputes in regions such as the South China Sea and the Arctic. During 2020, the Marine Corps University Press published an edited volume by Timothy Heck and Brett Friedman titled On contested shores: The evolving role of amphibious operations in the history of warfare . The book comprises 23 key chapters that trace the historical evolution of amphibious operations from the sixteenth century through to the present, and even looks toward the
{"title":"On contested shores: The evolving role of amphibious operations in the history of warfare","authors":"Evert Kleynhans","doi":"10.5787/49-2-1342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/49-2-1342","url":null,"abstract":"The study of amphibious operations has seen a definite resurgence during recent years. The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan forced militaries to shift their focus from traditional operations to those of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. This shift in focus naturally affected the doctrine, organisation and employment of amphibious forces of Western militaries, such as the US Marine Corps and the British Royal Marines – who were both deployed in semi-conventional and counterinsurgency roles in Iraq and Afghanistan for extensive periods. However, after the end of these wars, both the US Marine Corps and the British Royal Marines had to go back to the proverbial drawing board and reassess their traditional roles as amphibious forces. Of interest, is the fact that in 2019, the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, General David H Berger, provided planning guidance in which he argued that the US Marines had to return to the sea, increase their naval integration, and expand their ability to fight not just from the sea but also in terms of sea control from the shore. 602 With this planning guidance, there was bound to be a drastic shift in the doctrine, organisation and employment of the US Marine Corps in general. While these developments were notable, they did not occur in a vacuum. Several militaries across the globe are currently reapplying their minds to amphibious operations and implementing drastic measures to remedy any potential shortfalls that exist in terms of doctrine, organisation and training. These changes are necessitated owing to the increasing likelihood of future amphibious operations due to an unprecedented population growth evidenced in coastal regions across the globe, the concomitant effects of climate change on existing waterways, rives and oceans, and growing political disputes in regions such as the South China Sea and the Arctic. During 2020, the Marine Corps University Press published an edited volume by Timothy Heck and Brett Friedman titled On contested shores: The evolving role of amphibious operations in the history of warfare . The book comprises 23 key chapters that trace the historical evolution of amphibious operations from the sixteenth century through to the present, and even looks toward the","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"137 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74540307","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}
In 2015, the chief of human resources at the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) ordered the improvement of the instructional quality and military ethos of military instructors. This article, based on a comprehensive study in this regard, reports on the perceptions of a sample of military instructors in the SANDF on the existence of a construct, known as the professional military instructor identity and its effect on military ethos and instructional quality. A qualitative approach was followed, using an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm, involving data collection by means of a focus group discussion and expert interviews and using thematic networks analysis as data analysis method. A conceptual framework for the professional military instructor identity, consisting of sub-identities, influencing factors and identifying indicators, was constructed. Findings suggest that the professional military instructor identity is not recognised as a construct in the SANDF; however, the elements are known, although only vaguely. The findings also support the view that this situation may have affected the current declining military ethos and instructional quality of military instructors. It is concluded that the institutionalisation and popularisation of the professional military instructor identity, as well as professional recognition of military instructors in the SANDF, could improve the current situation.
{"title":"Professional military instructor identity in the South African National Defence Force","authors":"W. Wagner, Sonja van Putten, W. Rauscher","doi":"10.5787/49-2-1246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/49-2-1246","url":null,"abstract":"In 2015, the chief of human resources at the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) ordered the improvement of the instructional quality and military ethos of military instructors. This article, based on a comprehensive study in this regard, reports on the perceptions of a sample of military instructors in the SANDF on the existence of a construct, known as the professional military instructor identity and its effect on military ethos and instructional quality. A qualitative approach was followed, using an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm, involving data collection by means of a focus group discussion and expert interviews and using thematic networks analysis as data analysis method. A conceptual framework for the professional military instructor identity, consisting of sub-identities, influencing factors and identifying indicators, was constructed. Findings suggest that the professional military instructor identity is not recognised as a construct in the SANDF; however, the elements are known, although only vaguely. The findings also support the view that this situation may have affected the current declining military ethos and instructional quality of military instructors. It is concluded that the institutionalisation and popularisation of the professional military instructor identity, as well as professional recognition of military instructors in the SANDF, could improve the current situation.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87944992","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}
The establishment of an international legion by General Georges de Villebois-Mareuil in March 1900 was the most ambitious attempt to coordinate the activities of foreign volunteer units within a single formation during the South African War. On the general’s death (5 April 1900), De Villebois’s Russian deputy and successor, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Maximov, lost control of the legion. As a hierarchical formation, it survived De Villebois by only two weeks. Given Maximov’s ample experience in conventional and unconventional warfare, and the accolades that he later won from the republican political and military leadership, including the rank of general, the legionnaires’ opposition to him appears to be unjustified. Accounting for the discrepancy between historians’ perceptions of Maximov and his lack of success in controlling the legion is based on a premise that legionnaires had compelling reasons to reject his authority. Maximov had come to Africa ostensibly as a journalist. He was yet to earn the respect of his subordinates because he had not seen action in the South African War. In subsequent weeks, having resigned from his post in the legion, he distinguished himself in the engagement at Tobaberg as the leader of the Dutch corps. By then, Maximov had the ‘moral authority’ to command an international unit, but his poor health prevented him from carrying on fighting. Unlike De Villebois, who was supported by like-minded French lieutenants, Maximov could not rely on his compatriots. Instead of endorsing his claim to leadership, the Russian corps refused to join the legion while he was in charge, and intentionally discredited him. In the power vacuum after De Villebois’s death, the legion collapsed, and a chance to transform the emerging alliance of foreign volunteer units into a formidable force was missed.
{"title":"The role of Russian volunteers in the collapse of the international legion in the South African War","authors":"B. Gorelik","doi":"10.5787/49-2-1311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/49-2-1311","url":null,"abstract":"The establishment of an international legion by General Georges de Villebois-Mareuil in March 1900 was the most ambitious attempt to coordinate the activities of foreign volunteer units within a single formation during the South African War. On the general’s death (5 April 1900), De Villebois’s Russian deputy and successor, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Maximov, lost control of the legion. As a hierarchical formation, it survived De Villebois by only two weeks. Given Maximov’s ample experience in conventional and unconventional warfare, and the accolades that he later won from the republican political and military leadership, including the rank of general, the legionnaires’ opposition to him appears to be unjustified. Accounting for the discrepancy between historians’ perceptions of Maximov and his lack of success in controlling the legion is based on a premise that legionnaires had compelling reasons to reject his authority. Maximov had come to Africa ostensibly as a journalist. He was yet to earn the respect of his subordinates because he had not seen action in the South African War. In subsequent weeks, having resigned from his post in the legion, he distinguished himself in the engagement at Tobaberg as the leader of the Dutch corps. By then, Maximov had the ‘moral authority’ to command an international unit, but his poor health prevented him from carrying on fighting. Unlike De Villebois, who was supported by like-minded French lieutenants, Maximov could not rely on his compatriots. Instead of endorsing his claim to leadership, the Russian corps refused to join the legion while he was in charge, and intentionally discredited him. In the power vacuum after De Villebois’s death, the legion collapsed, and a chance to transform the emerging alliance of foreign volunteer units into a formidable force was missed.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"63 4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74896207","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}
The mandate of the Institute for Maritime Medicine (IMM) is to support and enhance the operational performance of sailors of the South African Navy during maritime operations, while also ensuring positive long-term mental health outcomes of sailors who serve their country at sea. To achieve this, the IMM proposes to re-orientate the mobilisation and demobilisation programmes used for ship-based maritime operations towards a predict-and-promote (P&P) approach, to enhance the psychological adaptation of sailors to the emotional demands of deployment as well as to support more adaptive forms of mental health resilience, both before and after sea-going operations. First, this article aims to present the proposed P&P approach for enhancing psychological adaptation during and after seaward deployments, with a specific focus on assessing personal emotional regulation (ER). For effective implementation, this approach is contingent on several clinical assumptions about ER in the operational environment, namely: the absence of significant psychopathology; the stability of the ER measure; the role of dispositional factors in operational adaptation; and the availability of population-specific normative data, which act as an interpretative guide of ER profiles for sailors. The second aim is to consider support for these assumptions, using previous experience during the mobilisation and/or demobilisation of ships involved in maritime operations. Support was found for all four assumptions, indicating the clinical and operational utility of the P&P approach at the IMM broadly, and the assessment of ER for sailors in particular.
{"title":"Promoting psychological adaptation among navy sailors","authors":"C. Wijk, Jarred H. Martin","doi":"10.5787/49-1-1260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/49-1-1260","url":null,"abstract":"The mandate of the Institute for Maritime Medicine (IMM) is to support and enhance the operational performance of sailors of the South African Navy during maritime operations, while also ensuring positive long-term mental health outcomes of sailors who serve their country at sea. To achieve this, the IMM proposes to re-orientate the mobilisation and demobilisation programmes used for ship-based maritime operations towards a predict-and-promote (P&P) approach, to enhance the psychological adaptation of sailors to the emotional demands of deployment as well as to support more adaptive forms of mental health resilience, both before and after sea-going operations. First, this article aims to present the proposed P&P approach for enhancing psychological adaptation during and after seaward deployments, with a specific focus on assessing personal emotional regulation (ER). For effective implementation, this approach is contingent on several clinical assumptions about ER in the operational environment, namely: the absence of significant psychopathology; the stability of the ER measure; the role of dispositional factors in operational adaptation; and the availability of population-specific normative data, which act as an interpretative guide of ER profiles for sailors. The second aim is to consider support for these assumptions, using previous experience during the mobilisation and/or demobilisation of ships involved in maritime operations. Support was found for all four assumptions, indicating the clinical and operational utility of the P&P approach at the IMM broadly, and the assessment of ER for sailors in particular.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87323658","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}
The conventional arms trade is a sensitive topic that is often shrouded in secrecy. As with most aspects of so-called ‘high politics’, processes connected to conventional arms trade habitually take place behind closed doors between a relatively small and tightly knit group of individuals. Gaining access to such people is an enormous challenge for any researcher. Moreover, building rapport with key decision-makers takes a long time, and it requires considerable effort and resolve. This article recapitulates the approach and method of a study done on conventional Swedish arms trade with South Africa. It provides insights into several substantive issues related to such research, in particular, aspects connected to elite interviewing and research ethics. The bulk of the article covers matters related to research design, access to elites, the limitations associated with elite interviewing, and the interview process that was adopted during fieldwork. The discussion on research ethics is closely, but not exclusively, connected to elite interviewing, and here the article reflects on various ethical considerations as well as the harsh reality of researching sensitive topics, such as conventional arms trade.
{"title":"Doing research on ‘sensitive topics’: Studying the Sweden–South Africa Arms Deal","authors":"W. Coetzee","doi":"10.5787/48-2-1278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5787/48-2-1278","url":null,"abstract":"The conventional arms trade is a sensitive topic that is often shrouded in secrecy. As with most aspects of so-called ‘high politics’, processes connected to conventional arms trade habitually take place behind closed doors between a relatively small and tightly knit group of individuals. Gaining access to such people is an enormous challenge for any researcher. Moreover, building rapport with key decision-makers takes a long time, and it requires considerable effort and resolve. This article recapitulates the approach and method of a study done on conventional Swedish arms trade with South Africa. It provides insights into several substantive issues related to such research, in particular, aspects connected to elite interviewing and research ethics. The bulk of the article covers matters related to research design, access to elites, the limitations associated with elite interviewing, and the interview process that was adopted during fieldwork. The discussion on research ethics is closely, but not exclusively, connected to elite interviewing, and here the article reflects on various ethical considerations as well as the harsh reality of researching sensitive topics, such as conventional arms trade.","PeriodicalId":53024,"journal":{"name":"Scientia Militaria","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91001118","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}
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