Suchergebnisse

The extent to which social scientific research has influenced the control & operation of the military since the beginning of WWII is examined. Previous attempts to assess such impacts are evaluated, & case studies of military research on the following subjects are analyzed from a SofK perspective: psychiatric personnel screening; morale; racial composition; solidarity & cohesion; & macroanalysis of the military profession. It is cautiously concluded that while the role & significance of social research on the military has been limited, the consequences have generally been positive. The need for more research of this type is asserted & a framework suggested. Modified AA.

In 1976, C. Moskos reformulated the concept of the military by citing a shift from professionalism to occupation. Such semantic misusage is incorrect, as the concept of profession continues to apply to the military today. Although it is undergoing a period of long-term transformation, involving cleavages in the officer corps & discontent in some other sectors, such ferment does not imply an actual change in concept; "some of the discontent may well be legitimate & require political solutions." Measures of skills, self-regulation, & corporate cohesion, do not guarantee professional competence; there are many levels of professionalism. The move toward increased contractual relations between the officer & the state need not threaten professional affiliations & group cohesion. Transformation does not imply reformulation; in the same sense that adaptation does not portend extinction. T. Babitsky.

Analysis of the role of the military in nation-building has focused mainly on developing nations. However, emergence of modern military institutions took place first in the West, & it is necessary to account for the special conditions under which nation-building was accomplished & accompanied by parliamentary democratic institutions. An attempt is made to trace the technological, social, political, & ideological bases of military institutions in Western Europe & the US which led to the emergence of parliamentary democracy. The central importance of the American & French revolutions is underlined, since in these revolutions one finds the origins of mass military institutions that are based upon the conception of citizen armies & opening up of the officer corps to all ranks in the social structure. The thesis of this study underlines the central importance of normative political & ideological conceptions of the citizen army as an element in the emergence of political democracy in Western Europe & the US. AA.