Military Participation Research Articles

The “new” military and income inequality: A cross national analysis

Military expenditures have escalated over the last three decades in both developed and less developed countries, without a corresponding expansion of military personnel. Spending has instead been directed towards hi-tech weaponry, what we refer to as the “new” military. We hypothesize that this new, increasingly capital-intensive military is no longer a pathway of upward mobility or employer of last resort for many uneducated, unskilled, or unemployed people, with significant consequences for those individuals and society as a whole. One such consequence, we argue, is an increase in income inequality. We test this hypothesis with cross-national panel models, estimated for 82 developed and less developed countries from 1970 to 2000. Findings indicate that military capital-intensiveness, as measured by military expenditures per soldier, exacerbates income inequality net of control variables. Neither total military expenditures/GDP nor military participation has a significant effect. It appears from these findings that today’s “new” military establishment is abrogating its historical role as an equalizing force in society, with important policy implications.

Dealing with the devil: NATO and Gaullist France, 1958–66

Charles de Gaulle regarded NATO as a hated symbol of US hegemony. From 1958 to 1966, France incrementally reduced its military and political participation in the Western alliance. This article analyses how ‘NATO Paris’ – the NATO secretary-general, the 15 national ambassadors forming the North Atlantic Council (NAC) in Paris and NATO insiders in allied governments – coped with the Gaullist challenge and tried to find solutions to the French ‘malaise’ and to de Gaulle's obstructionism. By ‘working around the General’, these NATO players strengthened the cohesion of the ‘NATO 14’ (minus France) and prepared the ground for a multilateral revitalisation of the Western security alliance once de Gaulle finally withdrew France from all military commands and councils in March 1966.

Efficacy of Forensic Statement Analysis in Distinguishing Truthful from Deceptive Eyewitness Accounts of Highly Stressful Events*

Laboratory-based detecting deception research suggests that truthful statements differ from those of deceptive statements. This nonlaboratory study tested whether forensic statement analysis (FSA) methods would distinguish genuine from false eyewitness accounts about exposure to a highly stressful event. A total of 35 military participants were assigned to truthful or deceptive eyewitness conditions. Genuine eyewitness reported truthfully about exposure to interrogation stress. Deceptive eyewitnesses studied transcripts of genuine eyewitnesses for 24 h and falsely claimed they had been interrogated. Cognitive Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and assessed by FSA raters blind to the status of participants. Genuine accounts contained more unique words, external and contextual referents, and a greater total word count than did deceptive statements. The type-token ratio was lower in genuine statements. The classification accuracy using FSA techniques was 82%. FSA methods may be effective in real-world circumstances and have relevance to professionals in law enforcement, security, and criminal justice.

Elevated CD8 Counts During HAART Are Associated With HIV Virologic Treatment Failure

To evaluate whether elevated CD8 counts are associated with increased risk of virologic treatment failure in HIV-infected individuals. Retrospective cohort study. US Military HIV Natural History Study participants who initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996-2008 had 6- and 12-month post-HAART HIV RNA <400 copies per milliliter, ≥ 2 subsequent HIV viral loads and a baseline CD8 count were eligible (n = 817). Baseline was 12 months after the start of HAART, virologic failure (VF) was defined as confirmed HIV RNA ≥ 400 copies per milliliter, and CD8 counts ≥ 1200 cells per cubic millimeter were considered elevated. Cox models were used to examine the effect of baseline and time-updated CD8 counts on VF. There were 216 failures for a rate of 5.6 per 100 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.9 to 6.4]. Among those initiating HAART in 2000-2008, the participants with elevated baseline CD8 counts had significantly greater risk of VF compared with those with baseline CD8 counts ≤ 600 cells per cubic millimeter [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.68, 95% CI: 1.13 to 6.35]. The participants with elevated CD8 counts at >20% of previous 6-month follow-up visits had a greater risk of failure at the current visit than those who did not (HR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.14 to 2.06). Those with CD8 counts that increased after the start of HAART had a greater risk of failure than those with CD8 counts that decreased or remained the same (HR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.19 to 2.13). Initial or serial elevated CD8 counts while on HAART or an increase in CD8 counts from HAART initiation may be early warnings for future treatment failure.

Media Freedom and Socio-Political Instability

Free media may reduce incidents of socio-political instability. Different types of socio-political instability have been shown to have a negative effect on investment and economic growth. This study examines the effect of free media on various indicators of socio-political instability. Using a panel of 98 countries over 1994-2005, this study shows that media free from government control and interference may decrease different forms of socio-political instability because it puts internal and external pressure on self-interested governments to act in the best interests of citizens—rather than their own. The empirical results suggest that a freer media is associated with lower levels of socio-political instability as measured by ethnic tensions, external and internal conflicts, crime and disorder, military participation in government and religious tensions. The estimates are robust to several sensitivity tests.

The Parliamentary Debate and Opinions on Media Over Military Participation in the Coalition for the UN Mission, 2011 No. 1973 Resolution: Belief English and French and Italian Embarrassment in the Libyan Crisis

The Parliamentary Debate and Opinions on Media Over Military Participation in the Coalition for the UN Mission, 2011 No. 1973 Resolution: Belief English and French and Italian Embarrassment in the Libyan Crisis

Pistoale balcanice cu cremene din colecţia Muzeului Banatului Timișoara / Flint Balkan Pistols from the Collection of Banat Museum in Timișoara

Pistoale balcanice cu cremene din colecţia Muzeului Banatului Timișoara / Flint Balkan Pistols from the Collection of Banat Museum in Timișoara

A fragilidade da condução política da defesa no Brasil

O presente artigo trata de avaliar em perspectiva histórica, algumas falhas na condução da política de Defesa no Brasil, fulcrais para se compreender a continuidade de um quadro de indevida participação militar e de ausência de controle civil na elaboração e implementação da mencionada pasta, incompatíveis com um contexto de governabilidade democrática. A despeito de algumas iniciativas no sentido de regulamentar os limites de atuação das Forças Armadas para que as mesmas não extrapolem suas funções e missões essenciais, e para que a política de Defesa seja revestida de um verniz público e civil - a exemplo da criação do Ministério da Defesa e da publicação da Estratégia Nacional de Defesa -, prevalece uma situação de fragilidade institucional e de vazio de poder público propícios para que a vontade militar permaneça conferindo o tom da Defesa nacional.

The egalitarian battlefield: Reflections on the origins of majority rule in archaic Greece

We explore the emergence of formal institutions of majority rule in archaic Greece from a historical and conflict-theoretic perspective. Referring to ancient and modern sources we first conclude that institutions of majority rule entered Greek collective decision-making in the seventh century BC. We argue that this development must be seen in connection with the local economic growth pattern and the adoption of a highly idiosyncratic form of warfare, which enabled Greek city-states to mobilize a greater number of citizens for war. Military participation of citizens depends on parameters of warfare and economic parameters. We show that the reduction of the average costs of fighting, coupled with an increased decisiveness of conflict, may result in an increased military participation rate. The integration of elements of majority rule in the constitution of the city-states was the political consequence of this development.

Segurança e Defesa Nacionais: conceitos básicos para uma análise

No artigo se busca uma delimitação de conceitos e abrangência dos níveis de cada política da área de defesa e participação de civis e militares.

Military involvement in law enforcement

AbstractLaw enforcement is not a task usually undertaken by military forces, at least within domestic legal contexts. Conversely, maintaining or restoring security within dysfunctional or ‘post-conflict’ areas of operation is a role commonly undertaken by them. Within these latter operations, the skill sets and highly calibrated application of force that are commonly associated with police forces in their law enforcement role are in fact manifested in a decisively military context. This article reviews the experiences and legal frameworks associated with military participation in two separate types of mission, namely UN-sponsored peace operations and unilateral/multilateral stabilization and counter-insurgency operations. It argues that these contexts have demanded a revised interpretative approach to the applicable law, one that is much more sensitive to social and political effect.

Militarization and the Environment: A Panel Study of Carbon Dioxide Emissions and the Ecological Footprints of Nations, 1970–2000

The authors situate treadmill of destruction theory in a comparative international perspective to assess the environmental impacts of national militaries. Results of cross-national panel models indicate that high-tech militarization in the form of expenditures per soldier contribute to the scale and intensity of carbon dioxide emissions as well as the per capita ecological footprints of nations. Likewise, all three of these environmental outcomes are positively associated with military participation in the context of the number of soldiers relative to the size of domestic populations. Overall, the findings support the proposed theorization and highlight the need for social scientists to consider the environmental and ecological consequences of nations' militaries, regardless of whether or not they are engaged in conflicts.

“A Terribly Incomplete Thing”: &lt;i&gt;No-No Boy&lt;/i&gt; and the Ugly Feelings of Noir

In its January 1956 issue, Reader's Digest published an article by Albert Q. Maisel titled Japanese Among Us, which offered an assessment of status of Japanese Americans in postwar years. The piece contended that while Japanese Americans had been subject to decades of discrimination that culminated in their wartime internment in West Coast detention camps, sacrifices, composure, and success of Japanese American soldiers, students, and entrepreneurs in 1940s and 1950s led to an amazing turnabout in their fortunes. Maisel argued that mid-1950s Japanese Americans were enjoying a prestige, a prosperity and a freedom from prejudice that even most sanguine of had never hoped to attain within their own lifetime (182). The improved status of Japanese Americans, article contends, can be traced to performance of Nisei soldiers in highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which had been assembled interned young men were asked to serve in military forces of same country that had incarcerated and their families. By middle of 1944, Maisel states, the conduct of evacuated Japanese and, above all, superb military record of Nisei had brought about a reversal in feelings of most other Americans toward them (192). The patriotic valor and dedication displayed by Nisei soldiers had galvanized public opinion, Maisel claims, and ensuing years saw gradual erosion of prejudice, as Japanese Americans returned to life outside camps and achieved remarkable economic and cultural success. As evidence of such success, Maisel points to achievements of a long list of individual Japanese Americans in agriculture, law, education, and business. Like many other articles about Japanese Americans in mass-market publications during postwar years, Maisel's essay claimed that anti-Asian prejudice was largely confined to past and that through their industry, patience, and patriotic commitment, Japanese Americans were rapidly entering American mainstream. (1) In painting such a picture, essay foreshadows model minority discourse that would come to shape public image of Japanese Americans in 1960s, 1970s, and beyond. (2) Given his aim of demonstrating both wartime loyalty of Japanese Americans and ultimately all-embracing and tolerant nature of American democracy (even as article's title enforces a divide between Japanese Americans and us), Maisel neglects to mention history of those interned Nisei who refused to serve in army, earning moniker because they responded negatively to two key questions on a government questionnaire administered to Japanese American men in camps. The postwar predicament of such no-no boys serves as focal point of John Okada's novel No-No Boy, published a year after Japanese Among Us appeared. The novel, which has become a canonical work of Asian American literature, complicates relentlessly upbeat thrust of Maisel's account by foregrounding emotional anguish of a no-no boy who returns from prison to find Japanese American community deeply fractured along lines of generation and military participation. However, extent to which No-No Boy challenges liberal, assimilationist ideology at heart of an essay such as Japanese Among Us has been vigorously debated. Critics such as Jinqi Ling have sought to discern novel's response to narrowly-conceived politics of national identity that dominated postwar years, when Cold War ideological drives toward U.S. nationalism and legitimation of material abundance promoted tendencies to embrace a common national character and a 'seamless' American culture (360). While Ling argues that novel rejects both wholesale assimilation and a diametrically opposed Japanese nationalism (374), Suzanne Arakawa more recently contends that Okada's text ultimately demonstrates virtual impossibility of resisting grand narrative of assimilation (191). …

Entre campanas y cañones: perspectivas sobre la sonoridad política en el Santiago borbónico

Este artículo pretende acercarse a los sonidos vinculados con el poder en Santiago de Chile colonial, a partir de una hipótesis que propone una transición desde una hegemonía de la campana eclesiástica hacia una preponderancia del armamento militar. Transición que se observa en directa relación con el proceso que se estaba desarrollando a nivel local e imperial en relación con la participación castrense en los asuntos administrativos y en el espacio público.

The Role of the Military in Presidential Politics

During the Bush-Kerry presidential election of 2004, both candidates sought and received endorsements from retired high-ranking military officers. At the Democratic National Convention, Senator John Kerry surrounded himself not only with former Navy colleagues but also with retired military brass. Retired Army (and former candidate) Wesley spoke at the convention, describing Kerry as leader, a fighter, and he will make a great commander-in-chief. (1) Twelve retired generals and admirals endorsed Kerry, including such notables as Admiral William Crowe, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Merrill McPeak, former Air Force Chief of Staff. McPeak subsequently appeared in television advertisements defending Kerry and his service in Vietnam in response to critical television advertisements from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Retired Army Tommy Franks, the architect of the successful invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, publicly endorsed President George W. Bush and later spoke in support of the President before a national audience at the Republican National Convention. Similarly, during the 2008 Obama-McCain presidential campaign, retired military leaders actively endorsed and campaigned for candidates. One of America's most respected retired officers, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, crossed party lines and endorsed candidate Barack Obama on national television. E-mails from General Wesley Clark sought campaign contributions for then-candidate Obama. (2) This was followed by Clark's devaluation on national television of Senator John McCain's war record in Vietnam, prompting then-Senator Obama to disavow Clark's criticisms. (3) In reporting the event, one article referred to as a prominent Democratic general. (4) The public endorsement of presidential candidates by retired general officers reflects a disturbing trend toward the politicization of the American military, and concomitantly, a gradual departure from the nonpartisan professional military ethic. This modern trend began subtly with the candidacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower but has taken a very disturbing and public turn as retired officers began to endorse candidates. What was once considered inappropriate behavior has now become commonplace. This article will review the history of the development, and gradual erosion, of a professional military ethic of political neutrality. Further, the article will examine the current state of permissible military participation in the political process. Finally, the authors posit that active and public participation of retired military officers in partisan politics, in their capacity as retired military officers, should be discouraged as potentially damaging to the US armed forces in both material and philosophical ways. If the military of a democracy is politically partisan, it is, in effect, damaging to democracy itself in that the military does not serve in the fullest, most impartial manner. The Development of a Politically Neutral Military Although the historical tradition of an apolitical military is generally accepted among most Americans, many might feel uncomfortable when contemplating the rather large number of men who have parlayed military achievements into political success. Prior to the Civil War, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Zachary Taylor all ascended to the presidency after successful military careers. Lieutenant Winfield Scott more frequently, if less prosperously, attempted to secure the presidency, while simultaneously serving as Commanding of the Army. Scott's political ambitions date at least to the 1840 presidential campaign, which Harrison, a former general, won. In 1852, Commanding Scott ran unsuccessfully for President as the Whig Party candidate, garnering more than 40 percent of the popular vote but losing heavily in the electoral vote. …

A Distributed Game-Based Simulation Training Research Testbed

[This paper is a companion piece for a presentation to be given as part of a panel discussion on the topic “Leveraging Virtual Reality and Computer-Based Games for Training”]. Our paper describes: the establishment of a testbed to support behavioral research on training applications of online distributed multiplayer gaming systems, several of the initial experiments conducted with the testbed, and some lesson learned. The testbed is itself geographically distributed with military, government, industry, and academia participants. We describe the behavioral research objectives and the technological challenges encountered in adapting commercial off-the-shelf gaming systems for training research use. Our focus is on the performance feedback process within the overall context of using gaming systems for distributed training. Research areas addressed include: factors general to training small teams such as law enforcement, urban search and rescue, or first responder personnel; and specific aspects of kinetic and non-kinetic dismounted infantry operations. Lessons learned involve: voice communications, Internet firewalls and quality of service, and “modeling mania”.

A Distributed Game-Based Simulation Training Research Testbed

[This paper is a companion piece for a presentation to be given as part of a panel discussion on the topic “Leveraging Virtual Reality and Computer-Based Games for Training”]. Our paper describes: the establishment of a testbed to support behavioral research on training applications of online distributed multiplayer gaming systems, several of the initial experiments conducted with the testbed, and some lesson learned. The testbed is itself geographically distributed with military, government, industry, and academia participants. We describe the behavioral research objectives and the technological challenges encountered in adapting commercial off-the-shelf gaming systems for training research use. Our focus is on the performance feedback process within the overall context of using gaming systems for distributed training. Research areas addressed include: factors general to training small teams such as law enforcement, urban search and rescue, or first responder personnel; and specific aspects of kinetic and non-kinetic dismounted infantry operations. Lessons learned involve: voice communications, Internet firewalls and quality of service, and “modeling mania”.

Women's activism and feminist agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua

List of Maps and Tables Preface Acknowledgements List of Acronyms 1. Women Must Occupy and Give Themselves the Place They Deserve Women's Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua 2. After Acknowledging Differences, We Must Also See What We Have in Common Feminist Contestations and Commonalities across First World/Third World, African, and Latin American Divides 3. Doing a Revolution Doesn't Stop You from Being Machista Birth of Revolutionary Women's Organizations and the Limits of Marxism-Leninism in Mozambique and Nicaragua 4. Women are Not Cows-We Are Active Agents of History Autonomy Struggles Emerge in Mozambique and Nicaragua 5. The Oppressed Woman Is Easier to Deal With Political Participation, Legal Reforms, and Cultural Constraints in Mozambique and Nicaragua 6. I Can Anything a Man Can Do Military Participation, Economic Production, and Women's Emancipation in Mozambique and Nicaragua 7. There Are No Alternatives: Is This Really Democracy? Democratization and Civil Society in Mozambique and Nicaragua 8. Partners in the Home, at Work, and on the Street Contemporary Women's Movements and Emergent Feminisms in Mozambique and Nicaragua Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

Military and Political Participation in Archaic-Classical Greece

In this paper I examine the “bargaining hypothesis” about democracy by calculating military and political participation ratios in Greece (MPR and PPR). I find that high (>10%) MPR coincided with high PPR, but was only one path toward state formation. Except in extreme situations like the Persian invasion of 480, high MPR and PPR depended on specific patterns of capital accumulation and concentration. In situations of high capital concentration rulers could substitute high spending for high MPR and PPR, preserving desirable social arrangements. Through time, the importance of capital concentrations grew. War made states and states made war in ancient Greece, as in early-modern Europe, but in different ways.

Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship (review)

Reviewed by: Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship Justin D. Lyons Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship, by Martin Gilbert. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. 359 pp. $30.00. A great many books have been written about Winston Churchill, in part because the story of Churchill’s life intersects with many of the most important events of the twentieth century. Sir Martin Gilbert’s Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship is yet another illustration of Churchill’s pervasive influence on these events. The central part of this story is Churchill’s support for the Zionist movement, which led eventually to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Gilbert sets this fascinating and lesser known tale in the context of the world wars and, more importantly, within the political struggle of conflicting interests and opinions. Churchill’s father, Lord Randolph, had bucked the antisemitic sentiment widespread in the British upper classes by maintaining friendships with several [End Page 174] prominent Jews. Churchill continued in his father’s footsteps with personal and political contacts throughout his life. What is more, Churchill became the figure in British politics most central to Jewish concerns both inside and outside Britain. His first political involvement in Jewish concerns came in 1904 as Member of Parliament for Manchester North-West where a third of his constituency was Jewish. He fought successfully against the Conservative Government’s Aliens Bill aimed at restricting the immigration of Jews fleeing Tsarist Russia. Churchill’s defense of Jewish rights in Britain was an important element of his tenure as Home Secretary beginning in 1910. Beyond domestic politics, Churchill was a supporter of Jewish aspirations for a national home even before the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration, named for A. J. Balfour, Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George’s Government, pledged British support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. That support was given in the hope that both American and Russian Jewry would aid the British war effort: Russia would be encouraged to stay in the war, and the military participation of the United States would be accelerated. Churchill was grateful for Jewish efforts and was adamant that the Declaration, which he viewed as the solemnly pledged word of Britain to the Jews, “could not be set aside when, in later years, it became awkward to fulfill” (p. 28). He pursued the fulfillment of this promise in the face of many practical difficulties and much political opposition. Churchill’s post-war positions in the British Government made him a central figure in the realization of Zionist aspirations. As Secretary of State for War, he had responsibility for Palestine, which was still under British military administration, and had to deal with the difficulties involved in the disposition of the lands previously governed by the Ottoman Empire. In 1921, Churchill was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies and continued his administrative duties over the British Mandates of Palestine and Mesopotamia. During his tenure, the borders of Palestine and the Arab kingdoms were set, Jewish immigration keyed to the productive capacity of the land was ongoing, and practical steps to expand that capacity were encouraged. It was Churchill who authored the 1922 White Paper which, when approved by the League of Nations, internationally guaranteed the Jewish National Home in Palestine. Zionism had its opponents both in Britain and the Middle East. Arab opposition grew with the Jewish population of Palestine, breaking out in violent attacks targeting both Jews and the British. In 1939, Neville Chamberlain’s Government, in response to Arab pressure, issued a White Paper which limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. Its aim was to ensure a permanent Arab [End Page 175] majority there, effectively eliminating the possibility of an eventual Jewish state. Churchill spoke strongly “against what he believed was both a betrayal of the Balfour Declaration, and a shameful act of appeasement” (p. 158). The Second World War did not drive Zionism from Churchill’s mind; in fact, it magnified its importance. The need to recall British troops stationed in Palestine, the need to find a place for Jewish refugees from Europe, and moral outrage at the horrors...