Demobilization vs. Mobilization

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-50
Author(s):  
Dmitar Tasić
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Active Duty ◽  
New Order ◽  
Military Organizations ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Post War

Chapter II deals with immediate post-war situation in countries that are a focus of the study and the repercussions of their newly acquired status of either vanquished or victorious. It shows how in practical terms most of the Balkan paramilitaries didn’t step out from the war but remain ‘mobilized’ for future engagement. While Serbian chetniks were the first summoned to answer to numerous security challenges, komitajis of the IMRO and Albanian kachaks led by the Kosovo Committee didn’t want to accept new order and new realities so visible in creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the fact that Macedonia and Kosovo and Metohija became integral part of new South Slav state. While old actors and organizations continued their struggle, new one appeared as well, such as Military or Officers League—secret organizations of Bulgarian officers who were discharged from active duty after Bulgaria as other defeated countries had to drastically reduce its armed forces and abolish conscription. As others they refused to accept new realities and were ready to work in favour of revision of existing order. Balkans also witnessed arrival of thousands of Russian emigrants as well as their former adversaries who fought on the side of the Bolsheviks. Both groups were ready to continue the struggle and immediately upon arrival they started either creating their own paramilitary structures—like communists—either wanted to preserve existing military organizations—like ‘White’ Russians.

The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
National Security ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
National Defence

The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first comprehensive analysis of national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the cold war. A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a notable blind spot in the existing literature. This Handbook aims to fill this gap with fifty-one contributions on European defence and international security from around the world. The six parts focus on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe’s major, medium, and lesser powers since the end of the cold war; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from interstate through intra-state and transnational; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.

EXPRESS: New Order and Old Institutions: South Africa and the Institutional Work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062110062
Author(s):  
Tapiwa Seremani ◽  
Carine Farias ◽  
Stewart Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
New Order ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Maintenance Work ◽  
Institutional Maintenance ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

The paper contributes to literatures on settlements and institutional maintenance work. It does so by unpacking post-settlement legitimation efforts required to maintain contentious institutions between previously conflicting actors. Settlements often necessitate the maintenance of institutions from the past whose legitimacy is dubious for the new regime. We study the role played by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in re-legitimating and maintaining the institution of the armed forces in the transition from apartheid to democracy. Maintaining this legitimacy required collaboration between the incoming government as well as the apartheid era armed forces. We term these unexpected collaborative efforts “reluctant accommodation work”. Our findings show that the lines of allegiance may be more fluid than currently depicted in the literature. Actors that previously conflicted need to find an interest in collaborating in their efforts to shape central institutions. Second, we show that for settlements to shape the field, they need to agree on the terms of collaboration, what we term “passage points” as well as engage in public ceremonies to broadly legitimate the settlement and the institution it seeks to preserve.

Militaries’ Organizational Cultures in a Globalizing World

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Soeters
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
National Level ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Organizational Cultures ◽  
Military Organizations ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
The Way

Organizational cultures in military organizations consist of symbols, practices, habits, hidden assumptions, and beliefs about what needs to be done, and what is appropriate and what is not, before, during, and after operations. Generally speaking, organizational cultures in military institutions are similar to those in any other work organization. Upon closer examination, however, it appears that the military’s 24/7, communal life outside society, its emphasis on hierarchy and discipline, and in particular its license to use large-scale force make it different. Relatedly, the way in which the military’s organizational cultures are created and recreated has aspects and emphases that are less common in conventional work organizations. Recruiting and socialization patterns of new organizational members in the military have been studied frequently because they are so distinctive in the armed forces. Military organizational cultures are not identical worldwide. Military organizations differ internationally, as military organizations are still strongly connected to their national backgrounds, including the languages, legal regimes, political atmospheres, and general ways of living in the many nations across the globe. National societies and their histories shape military organizational cultures in multiple ways. Dramatic experiences at the national level, for instance during World War II, may lead to a continuation or, just the opposite, the disruption of armed forces’ organizational cultures. Yet despite the differences, something of a world culture impacting on the use of force seems to emerge as well. In an era when international alliances carry out most missions, different national backgrounds influence strategic decision making and the way operations are conducted. Most of the time, national armed forces operate separately, in their own area (or time) of operations, sometimes guiding troops from smaller and less wealthy partnering nations. The coordination of actions between the various areas of operation is generally not very well elaborated. This applies not only to combat operations but also to peace missions. A full integration of national armed forces, such as in a United Nations security force or a European army, is an ideal that some may dream of, but it is still far from reality. The greatest degree of integration is likely to be found in international headquarters.

scholarly journals “The British Soldier is no Bolshevik”: The British Army, Discipline, and the Demobilization Strikes of 1919

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Butler
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
British Army ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Daily Mail ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military

Abstract This article considers the breakdown in discipline in the British Army which occurred in Britain and on the Western Front during the process of demobilization at the end of the First World War. Many soldiers, retained in the army immediately after the Armistice, went on strike, and some formed elected committees, demanding their swifter return to civilian life. Their perception was that the existing demobilization system was unjust, and men were soon organized by those more politically conscious members of the armed forces who had enlisted for the duration of the war. At one stage in January 1919, over 50,000 soldiers were out on strike, a fact that was of great concern to the British civilian and military authorities who miscalculated the risk posed by soldiers. Spurred on by many elements of the press, especially the Daily Mail and Daily Herald, who both fanned and dampened the flames of discontent, soldiers’ discipline broke down, demonstrating that the patriotism which had for so long kept them in line could only extend so far. Though senior members of the government, principally Winston Churchill, and the military, especially Douglas Haig and Henry Wilson, were genuinely concerned that Bolshevism had ‘infected’ the army, or, at the very least, the army had been unionized, their fears were not realized. The article examines the government’s strategy regarding demobilization, its efforts to assess the risk of politicization and manage the press, and its responses to these waves of strikes, arguing that, essentially, these soldiers were civilians first and simply wanted to return home, though, in the post-war political climate, government fears were very real.

The Adaptation of Centralized European Controls of Raw Materials, Industry, And transport (October 30,1903)

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Neumann ◽  
Paul Sweezy
Keyword(s):  
Labor Supply ◽  
Machine Tools ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Control Patterns ◽  
Post War

This chapter focuses on Germany's adaptation of centralized controls of European raw materials, industry, and transport. German economic controls aim to utilize all resources of occupied Europe, manpower, raw materials, machines and machine tools, railroads and other vehicles, industrial capacities, etc., for the German war effort. To achieve this, the report explains that the Germans have applied two methods: centralized machinery operating from Berlin and indigenous economic institutions that have been transformed so as to correspond to the German control patterns. Some of the major agencies regularly operating in German-occupied Europe are the Ministry of Armaments and Armament Production, German Purchasing Commissions for the Armed Forces under the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, the organization of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Commissioner General for Labor Supply. The chapter considers the technical and administrative problems involved in Germany's immediate post-war control over the European economy.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Michael E. O’Hanlon
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Analytical Methods ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Computational Algorithms ◽  
Military Effectiveness ◽  
Military Organizations ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
American Grand Strategy

This chapter sketches out the characteristics of today's global security environment in a broad brush by describing the US Department of Defense. It focuses on the science of war, a subdiscipline of defense analysis that, beginning with a foundation of basic facts and figures about military organizations and operations, uses analytical methods to tackle key questions in the national security field. With this context, the chapter illustrates the analytical methods including simple computational algorithms for assessing military effectiveness and predicting combat outcomes. It also includes the study of defense budgets and economics, as well as efforts to understand the physics and technology of military weapons and operations today. The chapter then discusses many of the ABCs of the US armed forces. It explains the evolution of American grand strategy — the theory of the case for how the nation should ensure its safety, prosperity, and survival — that these forces are designed to undergird.

India's national security: challenges and dilemmas

2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-857
Author(s):  
Harsh V. Pant ◽  
Kartik Bommakanti
Keyword(s):  
Use Of Force ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Face ◽  
Military Strength ◽  
Threat Environment

Abstract India faces a very challenging strategic environment, with its immediate opponents possessing significant capabilities and militaries that are modernizing rapidly. This article explores the opportunities, challenges and constraints confronting the Indian state in building its military strength to deal with its variegated threat environment. It examines how India has dealt with the use of force and how it seeks to shape its armed forces in the face of new threats and emerging capabilities. This article explores six key areas of enquiry and is correspondingly structured. First, how does the Indian state view the use of force? Second, what has the Indian state's recent experience been with conflict and to what extent has it influenced its thinking? Third, how does the Indian state view the future character of conflict? Fourth, what conclusions has India drawn about the role of alliances and strategic partners in dealing with the nature of the conflict it faces? Fifth, how does the Indian state intend to configure its forces to deal with this evolving nature of conflict? Finally, what do all these factors mean for its defence acquisitions? As an emerging power, India has to contend with these questions and the measures it has put in place are still a work in progress. There remains a fundamental need for greater integration across the Indian security sphere—in interservice arrangements, in procurement processes, and in broader strategic thinking and planning.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document