Military Challenges Research Articles

MILITARY FAMILIES: THE PROFESSION'S INVISIBLE BACKBONE

Last year's final issue of Contemporary Military Challenges, which was dedicated to organizational culture, also included two articles publishing the results of a survey on young people's interest in the military profession. This is a very topical issue as, in the last decade, the Slovenian Armed Forces has been facing a decreasing interest in the military. This is reflected in the gradual reduction in the number of personnel, although the interests of the state in terms of military activities are not reducing – quite the contrary. Ever since the beginning of the European migrant crisis in 2015, the Slovenian Armed Forces has been combining its regular functions with additional tasks assigned within the protection of the Schengen border, and recently has been actively involved in the activities around the Covid-19 epidemic. Nataša Troha and Nuša Gorenak from the Slovenian Armed Forces conducted a survey on a sample of 7,418 high school students and described the results in their article, Job characteristics through the eyes of the young generation: survey research “Youth and their motives for the military profession”. Nina Rosulnik and Janja Vuga Beršnak also conducted a survey of 221 male and female students, and presented the results in an article entitled What motivates the young people of the 21st century to join the military? The results of both surveys are interesting and very useful for all those involved in the Slovenian Armed Forces’ manning efforts. Their task is not easy for a number of reasons. One of the main ones is that the manning of the Slovenian Armed Forces is not only a challenge for the military, but also for the Slovenian state, its government and the state administration. It is a systemic challenge and it should be tackled as such. Interestingly enough, the police have managed to retain the number of their employees compared to previous years, while the Slovenian Armed Forces has not. So, what is the difference between the police and the military as professions? At times they seem similar, but again, at other times, we find them completely incomparable. Scientifically, this challenge, among others, is examined by military sociology. Returning to the research of our four authors and their findings we learn that for young people who do not yet have their own families, the notion of family as a value is a very important factor influencing their choice of profession. Troha and Gorenak established that, from a total of 24 statements, the question of whether it would bother them to be away from family and friends for a long period of time due to work ranked second among high-school students’ priorities, with an average score of 3.3 out of 5. Rosulnik and Vuga Beršnak, on the other hand, found that family ranks first among the values that are most important to young students. These facts provide yet another reason to devote more attention to issues related to military families. In the preparation of our thematic issue, we consequently agreed on a collaboration with Janja Vuga Beršnak, a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana, who is project manager of a research project entitled Military specific risk and protective factors for military family health outcomes (J5 1786), funded by the Slovenian Research Agency. It is true that we are focusing on military families for the first time in the history of Contemporary Military Challenges; however, in military sociology, this has been a long-researched topic. Military families are a very important, though often invisible, pillar of the functioning of every armed forces. The approach to military families is decided by each country, army or commander individually, depending on a variety of factors which will be revealed in more detail in the articles.

Between Rome and Byzantium: The Golden Age of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s Political Culture—Second Half of the Fifteenth Century to the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

Between Rome and Byzantium: The Golden Age of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s Political Culture—Second Half of the Fifteenth Century to the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

Information management in the Intelligence Branch of Britain’s War Office, 1873-1914: ‘All information flows toward it, or returns to it, in a form worked up into shape’

AbstractIntelligence has always been an aspect of organized warfare. It was not until 1873, however, that the British Army recognised this formally by establishing an explicitly named unit, under the auspices of the War Office, dedicated to the development of strategic intelligence: the Intelligence Branch. Based on documents held in the National Archives (UK), this study explores the ways in which the work of the Intelligence Branch developed before the First World War in response to imperial and foreign military challenges and the growing awareness of the importance of strategic intelligence and planning. The Branch’s steam-age origins should not disguise the intensity and sophistication of the information management that underpinned its operations. Attention is paid to the type of information management methods that were employed. The existence of a rational system of information management is revealed, consisting of planned phases for the collection, processing, storage, organisation, analysis and dissemination of information.

THE ROLE OF TERMINOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY SECURITY ENVIRONMENT

THE ROLE OF TERMINOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY SECURITY ENVIRONMENT

An Unguaranteed Victory: Military Challenges in the Union Army and Lincoln’s Call for a Militia

An Unguaranteed Victory: Military Challenges in the Union Army and Lincoln’s Call for a Militia

Sources of occupational stress among the military musicians of the Royal Air Force

IntroductionOccupational stress has been studied in the military and among professional musicians but not yet among military musicians. We may speculate that military musicians are subject to military occupational stresses...

Desafios do Exército Brasileiro nas fronteiras amazônicas: entre a border e a frontier

This article discusses the challenges to the Brazilian Army at the border strip, with emphasis on the Amazon, based on an interdisciplinary theoretical-conceptual approach. Conceptually, the highlight is the distinctive nature of the two notions of border (border and frontier) and the significance of each of them in terms of defense and security. For this purpose, the paper suggests dividing national security threats into two categories: geopolitical threats and security threats. Based on this theoretical approach and considering the border territorial policies historically adopted by Brazil, the article discusses the military challenges at Amazonian borders, analyzing the main military strategies adopted for that region.

Self-Reinforcing Civilian Control: A Measurement-Based Analysis of Civil-Military Relations

AbstractHow does the passage of time contribute to the establishment of civilian control of the State? We argue that civilian dominance of politics is achieved once civilianized institutions are adopted and sufficient time has passed to permit: (1) the development of a shared norm of civilian control within the military and (2) learning among military elites that fosters a belief that civilian rule is robust to military challenges. As a result, civilian control is self-reinforcing. We evaluate these claims by developing and validating a latent variable model of self-reinforcing institutional dynamics. We generate estimates of civilian control for all countries, 1945–2010, and find strong evidence that civilian control self-reinforces, but incrementally and over the course of several decades.

Cyber Threats and Asymmetric Military challenges In the Context of Nuclear Security: Ukrainian and International Cases Analysis

Cyber Threats and Asymmetric Military challenges In the Context of Nuclear Security: Ukrainian and International Cases Analysis

FACTORS INFLUENCING WORK SATISFACTION OF SINGLE PARENTS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

There has been a documented increase in single-parent families over the years. Various causes, such as divorce, death, irresponsible fathers and choice, to mention but a few, contribute to this increase. Since 2005, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has been partaking in various peacekeeping missions on the continent. The deployment of the SANDF is, however, not limited to cross-border activities. The SANDF also deploys its soldiers within the country in border control operations. While some soldiers are deployed within and outside the borders of the country, others remain in the home bases to continue with daily tasks. These soldiers usually work from 08:00–16:00, Monday to Friday. There are instances, however, where they need to work beyond the normal working hours and over weekends to participate in training exercises or even as a result of being deployed. Because of their single-parent status, these soldiers face inherent military challenges as well as role-related ones, which may influence their work satisfaction. The research reported here aimed to investigate the relationships between stress, work–family conflict, social support and work–family enrichment (WFE) in terms of work satisfaction of single parents in the SANDF.

An Investigation of the Character Strengths and Resilience of Future Military Leaders

Introduction: The importance of both character and resilience for critical occupations (military, emergency medicine, first responders, and correctional officers) has been emphasized at the highest levels of military leadership. No studies to date have examined the relationship between character strengths and resilience within military populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceived importance of character strengths for Canadian military cadet success, the top strengths endorsed by cadets, and, in a subset of cadets, the relationships among core strengths and resilience. In line with previous research on character strengths in military populations, we predicted that bravery, honesty, perseverance, and teamwork might be included in the five most frequent signature strengths. Methods: A total of 360 Naval/Officer Cadets from a Canadian Military College were invited to participate in a study during two training sessions. Participants (n = 153) first completed a survey comprised of a resilience measure and demographic items. Then, one month later, students (n=134) were asked to complete a Values in Action (VIA) character strengths profile, and a survey with questions related to character strengths (their personal top-five character strengths, and strengths they believed were important for military-related stressors and leadership, academic success, resilience, and completion of military challenge). We were only able to match responses for a subset of participants, allowing a final sample of 94 participants. Results: Findings indicated that military cadets consider perseverance, judgment, teamwork, perspective, and self-regulation to be most critical for bouncing back from stressors. However, in line with our predictions, the most frequently endorsed strengths that characterized cadets were bravery, honesty, and perseverance. Finally, perseverance (p = .029), bravery (p = .01), and humor = .01) were positively correlated with cadet resilience, while endorsement of love was negatively correlated with resilience (p = .002). Conclusion: Focus on character strengths in military cadets can enhance academic and physical performance. Resilience assessment could be important for the purposes of military selection, performance, and well-being. Our findings indicate perseverance, bravery, and humor in particular might be relevant indicators of cadet resilience.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The last issue of the Contemporary Military Challenges in 2019 when we celebrate the 15th anniversary of Slovenia's accession to the European Union and NATO, is dedicated to the organizational culture. Many different books, articles, and online records are dedicated to the organizational culture. Most authors claim that organizational culture is essential to the success of large companies and the performance of their employees. After a number of theories on the factors affecting the performance of companies and large corporations, we have somehow again returned to the central factor - the person - the employee, the one who is motivated to do something more and better, who positively influences other employees so that together they can become better and more satisfied, and that they are more in tune with the goals and desires of the company which employs them for the common good. Concerning the distinction between organizational culture and organizational climate Dr Kristijan Musek Lešnik on his website says that many experts and gurus often confuse the two concepts or use them interchangeably. As far as organizational climate is concerned, Musek, referring to Schein, writes that organizational culture is composed of artefacts (things, language, slogans, symbols), expressed values (strategies, goals, philosophy and standards of the organization) and basic assumptions (beliefs, opinions, attitudes and feelings that are taken for granted within the organization and are shared by its members). Compared to both, he says that it also manifests itself in a temporal perspective: culture is oriented towards the past (traditions, myths, etc.) and builds the future through visions, whereas the climate is the perception of the present state. From this description it can be concluded that the organizational culture and of course climate are important for every undertaking. Consequently, they also play an important role in the modern armed forces. History is important to the identity of a nation and its military; however, organizational culture as the builder of the future is even more important. The past decade has been very specific for the Slovenian Armed Forces, as it was entirely marked by the financial crisis which began in 2008. SAF members especially felt it in terms of their salaries, equipment, weapons and reduced numbers of personnel. The SAF was also strongly impacted by the changed security situation in the nearby and broader region, which was predominantly manifested in the form of mass migration in 2015. Since then, it has been identified primarily through the increased number of illegal migrants crossing the Croatian border where Slovenian Armed Forces members take an active part in protecting the Schengen border in collaboration with the police. As it seems, this will continue to be its task in the future as well. Organizational culture as the builder of the future is the central theme of this thematic issue, in which we focus on the core tasks and mission of the Armed Forces.

INTRODUCTION

The year 2019 marks three anniversaries of great significance to the Republic of Slovenia, its citizens, its security and defence system, and the members of the Slovenian Armed Forces. The first anniversary commemorates 70 years of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the other two relate to the 15 years of Slovenia's membership of the European Union and NATO. Celebrating 70 years of NATO is of central importance because of the Alliance's symbolic meaning. Although it was officially established on 4 April 1949, it is true to say that North Atlantic cooperation is far older. It began during the mass immigration of members of numerous nations from the territories of today’s European Union and other parts of the world into North America. So far, several generations have been connected through family ties on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean; yet, these ties are not the only ones. These relationships overcame terrible ordeals in both World Wars, and resulted in cooperation, later officially named the Alliance, in the aftermath of World War II for one reason only – for it to never happen again. On the celebration of the 70th anniversary of NATO in Washington, D.C., the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said that “[the Treaty's] reach is vast, and it has stood the test of time – because we have united around our core commitment to protect and defend one another”. In a wider sense, however, this long lasting Alliance is probably all about striving to safeguard, preserve and develop the Western European cultural, historical, political, sociological, security, defence, military (and so on) identity. Recently, the geopolitical aspect and the importance of the Alliance in relation to other emerging political actors, mainly from the East, have become increasingly important. Nevertheless, despite the major changes it has undergone in the past 70 years, the Alliance, having seemed obsolete to other security organizations, is now as vital as ever. The fact that the Republic of Slovenia has already been a member of the European Union and NATO for 15 years appears logical, particularly from the historical perspective. The territory of what is now Slovenia, where our ancestors have lived for centuries, was part of the Holy Roman Empire for over a thousand years, the Austrian Empire for 63 years, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 51 years. The 20th century saw several different organizational structures, with us as part of them, together with those countries which are now collectively referred to as the Western Balkans. However, the 21st century brought us membership of the European Union and NATO, i.e. a “place” where we can finally belong. On 23 March 2003, a referendum on Slovenia’s membership of the EU and NATO was held, asking the citizens of the Republic of Slovenia if they were in favour of joining the two organizations. Almost 90% of voters favoured Slovenia joining the EU, while 66% voted to join NATO. The current edition of Contemporary Military Challenges is dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Slovenia's membership of the Alliance. In 2009 and 2014, two special thematic issues were published, marking the 5th and 10th anniversaries respectively, highlighting the experience gained, and describing the best and also the less successful practices. We wanted to write them down, to remember them and leave them for generations yet to come. What is more, we wanted to share our experience with other countries aiming to join the Alliance. Our purpose here was to help those countries to not repeat our mistakes, and to assist them in avoiding mistakes altogether. For this issue, authors from other countries were invited to share their experiences and views of their countries’ and Slovenia’s membership of the Alliance. Special thanks go to David Humar and Primož Šavc for their invaluable assistance in creating the current edition.

Spiritual Temporalities of the Liberation War in Zimbabwe

This paper contributes to our understanding of the spiritual and invisible aspects of African military landscapes through a historical and ethnographic study of Zimbabwe liberation war guerrillas' spiritual practices. Guerrillas mobilized and deployed their spiritual beliefs and practices in the execution of the 1970s liberation war against well equipped Rhodesian forces, and in subsequent deployments as members of the post-colonial national army. Guerrillas' understanding of their landscape of deployment as spiritual influenced their engagement with it's physical materials such as trees and caves and wild animals as active objects representing the ancestors. The paper argues that the spirituality of African military landscape challenges dominant western conceptualizations of military landscapes as passive sites that are dominated and shaped by violent military activities. Spirituality makes African military landscapes active and affective beyond the dictates of human [militay] action, therefore shaping and controlling ways in which the military engage with it.

“Anti-Access/Area Denial in the Baltic Sea Region”

This special issue aims to foster new thinking into the Russian strategic and military challenge in the Baltic Sea region. The ultimate aim of this scholarship is not to promote offensive actions, such as the further expansion of NATO’s sphere of influence or any interference in Russian internal affairs. Rather, the hope is that Russia and NATO will be able avoid further escalation of tensions that could lead to war.

INTRODUCTION STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN THE FIELD OF SECURITY

The cyclic emergence of various concepts related to communication in the security, defence and military fields continues. The newest one is Strategic Communication that follows Psychological Operations, Information Operations, Public Diplomacy, Public Affairs, Psychological Warfare, Political Warfare and Propaganda. There have been broader concepts developed in the past that involve different communication-related activities to realize interests and fulfil objectives of countries, international organizations as well as other actors. Listed chronologically as they appeared, the Strategy of Indirect Approach, Low Intensity Conflict, Operations Other Than War, Information Warfare, Asymmetric Warfare, Smart Power and Hybrid Warfare are among the most prominent ones. We are not in a position to define and compare all of the above concepts in order to identify the patterns of (dis)continuity or to explore how the concepts duplicate, overlap, and complement each other. The Strategic Communication concept is here, theoretically and in the practical application of various actors. Therefore, this introduction to the special issue of the Contemporary Military Challenges, will dwell upon conceptual issues related to Strategic Communication, and will try to identify the understanding and applying of the concept in the United States of America (USA), the Russian Federation, the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

INTRODUCTION STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARMED FORCES

This second edition in the 21st year of the publication of ‘Contemporary Military Challenges’ is dedicated to strategic communications and their influence, connections and interactions connected to the armed forces. Maybe you have already noticed that we use the term communications, and not communication? At first glance, many would think that the difference between these words and phrases is minor and irrelevant, because strategic communication and strategic communications cannot be that different in meaning; while others may be of the opinion that one form or the other is incorrect. Terminological consensus has not yet been reached in Slovene or in English. Based on the opinion of the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovenian Language1, the term ‘strategic communications’ is used in Slovene in this edition in the context of the NATO concept. We would like to emphasize that we are not trying to codify the use with our choice of the term, but rather seeking to achieve consistency and encourage debate. The articles in this edition show that a lot of effort needs to be put into terminology. Some believe that it is not important to focus on small terminological differences, claiming that it is the content and its associated development that really matters. But is that really the case? While preparing this themed edition, we encountered numerous challenges, beginning with the planning phase itself. The basic idea was to devote some attention to the communications and communication of armed forces with different target audiences (internal or external), in different forms, such as classic media, social media, various public events and the use of force, among others. For the armed forces, the relationships within the forces, that is, between their personnel, and the relationships with other audiences, who may decide on the functioning and future of the armed forces, are of the utmost importance. In order to achieve the best possible result, we contacted Professor Marjan Malešič, PhD, from the Faculty of Social Sciences, a long-standing coordinator of the Public Opinion, Mass Media and the Military Working Group at the European Association of Military Sociologists, Ergomas. This edition includes some content from the special edition of the international publication on Strategic Communication, entitled ‘Guidelines for the Future of Strategic Communication’, published by Routledge Publications in November 2018. We have addressed not only the issue of terminology, but also the concept. This topic often appears in writing and has a rich history in terms of its content. The terms used most frequently in its history are: propaganda (the oldest), public relations, information influencing, communication, strategic communication, corporate communication, and strategic communications, among others. As concepts, they are listed in the NATO Military Concept for Strategic Communications, and described as the coordinated and dedicated use of NATO’s information-communication capabilities and activities. These include activities in public diplomacy, public relations, information and psychological operations, serving as an appropriate support of the politics, operations and activities of the Alliance for the implementation of NATO goals. The Republic of Slovenia has been a member of the Alliance for 15 years. The Slovenian Armed Forces have been fully engaged in various NATO activities and committed to NATO’s Strategic Communications Concept. So, the title of this themed edition is ‘Strategic Communications and the Armed Forces’. The conceptual and terminological aspects are only two of the many aspects of exploring this interdisciplinary and highly relevant topic. With its fast development, it offers many opportunities, but also questions. In the future, there will be even more opportunities for research, debate and various solutions.

MILITARY KNOWLEDGE IN A CONTEMPORARY SECURITY SETTING

This year's first issue focuses on military knowledge in a contemporary security setting. The autumn of 2017 marked the beginning of the General Staff Course of Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) members. This was the eighth generation of the General Staff Course in the history of the Slovenian Armed Forces and independent Slovenia. After the students completed their training in the beginning of October 2018 with a ceremony held at the Military Schools Centre, some of them decided to publish an article in the Contemporary Military Challenges.

Beyond "thank you": recommended modalities for meaningful civilian-military discourse

While numerous studies explore veteran and current military member reintegration challenges from a psychological or sociological perspective, few have examined the impact of discourse on the ability to locate a post-service or post-deployment identity within larger society. To that end, this research investigates veterans’ and active duty military members’ interpretations of the ritualistic expression of “thank you for your service,” and other public acknowledgments and disclosures of their military service. This paper describes two studies each employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies for data analysis and verbatim transcriptions are interwoven throughout the corresponding results sections to support the qualitative findings. The multi-methodological application of focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth personal interviews revealed that “thank you for your service” was regarded by study populations as an injunctive norm that frequently elicited feelings of awkwardness, objectification, impostor syndrome, and even resentment. Further, study subjects expressed a general unwillingness to disclose their military service with anyone beyond their self-ascribed ingroup, demonstrating an underlying fear of being labeled as either a hero or victim. To explain their responses and their fears, this paper proposes the hyper-humility model, which describes the confluence of sense of duty, guilt, and/or shame from a perceived comparative lack of hardship or elevation to the standing of those perceived as more deserving, and acute manifestation of imposter syndrome. Lastly, this paper offers a path toward more meaningful civilian-military interaction, by broadening discourse to include more personalized, genuine dialogic exchanges.

Время европейских тревог: Евросоюз в меняющейся системе координат

While 2019 marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of the European Union, its specific political and economic markers are still not quite clear. International relations of EU member states are also undergoing radical change, and regional and global alliances are being reset. In fact, the whole domestic and foreign policy framework, which has existed in Europe for several decades, is essentially changing. That was clearly demonstrated by the elections to the European Parliament. The new EU leadership will have to find adequate responses to numerous economic, social, diplomatic and military challenges.