Operational experiences, military role conceptions, and their influence on civil-military relations

Christoph Harig,Nicole Jenne,Chiara Ruffa

doi:10.1017/eis.2021.29

Abstract

AbstractA considerable amount of research within security studies has explored the military's increasingly diverse and multifaceted tasks. However, this debate has been disconnected from the literature on civil-military relations to the effect that we still lack knowledge about how and why these operational tasks have consequences for the relations between the armed forces, civilian authorities, and society at large. In order to provide for a better understanding of these effects, this introduction to the Special Issue debates the concept of operational experiences to capture how the military's routine activities affect the equilibria, logics, and mechanisms of civil-military relations. The article then provides an overview of the Special Issue's six contributions, whose diverse and global perspectives shed light on different aspects of the relationship between military missions and the military's roles in society and politics. Among other factors, they highlight role conceptions – the military's shared views on the purpose of the institution – as crucial in shaping the dynamic relation between what the military does and what place it occupies within the state and society. The article concludes by describing potentially fruitful areas of future research.

Highlights

Operational experiences, military role conceptions, and their influence on civil-military relationsChristoph Harig1*, Nicole Jenne[2] and Chiara Ruffa[3](Received 9 April 2021; accepted 19 October 2021) AbstractA considerable amount of research within security studies has explored the military’s increasingly diverse and multifaceted tasks
We provide an overview of the individual studies and how they deal with the operational experiences of armed forces and their consequences for role conceptions and civil-military relations
Conclusion and avenues for future research. This Special Issue seeks to develop an analytical toolkit for studying the connections between operational experiences and civil-military relations

Summary

Introduction

Operational experiences, military role conceptions, and their influence on civil-military relationsChristoph Harig1* , Nicole Jenne[2] and Chiara Ruffa[3](Received 9 April 2021; accepted 19 October 2021) AbstractA considerable amount of research within security studies has explored the military’s increasingly diverse and multifaceted tasks. The armed forces are suitably prepared for combat but would have to learn to adapt to other tasks.[7] internal missions are typically seen as problematic for civil-military relations, since they allow military leaders to interfere in domestic politics.[8] Yet, the focus on conventional military missions and the dichotomous understanding of external vs internal operations do not capture accurately what the military does and how this affects civil-military relations.[9] a sprawling literature on military learning and adaptation examines operations and conditions for organisational change. While these studies often acknowledge political conditions as important for military learning, their focus lies on perfecting doctrine and tactics during military operations rather than on the consequences these operations have for civilmilitary relations.[10]

Objectives

Conclusion