Society–Military Relations in a State-in-the-Making

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillel Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Islamic Movement ◽  
Palestinian Society ◽  
Military Relations

The participation of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) security agencies in the armed struggle against Israel in the second Palestinian uprising (2000–2005) is analyzed in this article as a response to the demand of Palestinian society, thus as a unique case of armed forces which, in the lack of political directive, became more attentive to public opinion. The article shows how Palestinian public discourse in the late 1990s–early 2000s, that was shaped by the Islamic movement of Hamas, portrayed the PA’s security officials as traitors. Members of the PA security agencies (mainly Fatah members) sought to reposition themselves in the “national camp,” and this motivated them to raise their weapons against Israeli targets. By doing so, they also removed the mental burden of turning their weapons against fellow Palestinians that was one of the major sources for their image as collaborators.

Western Scholarship and the Islamic Resurgence in the Arab World

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59
Author(s):  
Mohamed Karbal
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Islamic Movement ◽  
Party Line ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Islamic Resurgence ◽  
Western Scholarship

During the last two decades, the politics of certain Arab countrieshave been influenced by various Islamic groups. Some of these groupshave expressed their dissatisfaction with the performances of theirgovernments by Using the available political channels to seek change;others have resorted to violence. Armed protests have taken the form ofbombings, assassinations, and mass demonstrations.Suicide attacks and armed struggle took place against Israeli, American,and French forces in Lebanon (1982-83). President Sadat of Egyptwas assassinated in 1981 by Egyptian military pemnnel who were membersof an Islamic movement. Another armed struggle against the Syrianregime was initiated by the Syrian Islamic Front in 1976-82. Numerousdemonsttations against the governments of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisiatook place during the 1980s.Other Muslim groups attempted to participate in the decision-makingprocess in their countries. The Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt encouragedits prominent members to run for election to the Egyptian Parliament.However, the Society was not considered a legal party accordingto Egyptian law. The Wafd, a legitimate party, allowed the Society ofMuslim Brothers to campaign under their banner. As a result, membersof the Society voted in accordance with their ideological and political beliefsrather than the Wafd party line. In Jordan, the Society of MuslimBrothem campaigned as an independent party during the 1988 electionsand won twenty percent of the seats.Due to the Arab countries’ economic and strategic importance, variousgovemments, scholars, and private and public organizations have paid closeattention to these incidents. In an attempt to understand this phenomenon,academic conventions have been held, books and articles have been published,and gmnts have been awarded for research. Western and Arabscholars have described it with such labels as Islamic fundamentalism,revivalism, awakening, reformism, resurgence , renewal, militancy, or simply ...

Double, triple or quadruple hits? Exploring the impact of cybercrime on victims in the Netherlands

2021 ◽  
pp. 026975802110106
Author(s):  
Raoul Notté ◽  
E.R. Leukfeldt ◽  
Marijke Malsch
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Victim Blaming ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

This article explores the impact of online crime victimisation. A literature review and 41 interviews – 19 with victims and 22 with experts – were carried out to gain insight into this. The interviews show that most impacts of online offences correspond to the impacts of traditional offline offences. There are also differences with offline crime victimisation. Several forms of impact seem to be specific to victims of online crime: the substantial scale and visibility of victimhood, victimisation that does not stop in time, the interwovenness of online and offline, and victim blaming. Victims suffer from double, triple or even quadruple hits; it is the accumulation of different types of impact, enforced by the limitlessness in time and space, which makes online crime victimisation so extremely invasive. Furthermore, the characteristics of online crime victimisation greatly complicate the fight against and prevention of online crime. Finally, the high prevalence of cybercrime victimisation combined with the severe impact of these crimes seems contradictory with public opinion – and associated moral judgments – on victims. Further research into the dominant public discourse on victimisation and how this affects the functioning of the police and victim support would be valuable.

scholarly journals Introduction to the Armed Forces & Society Forum on Military Reserves in the “New Wars”

2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2199622
Author(s):  
Sergio Catignani ◽  
Nir Gazit ◽  
Eyal Ben-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
New Wars ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military ◽  
Critical Perspectives

This Armed Forces & Society forum is dedicated to exploring recent trends in the characteristics of military reserves and of the changing character of reserve forces within the armed forces within the military, the civilian sphere, and in between them. To bring new and critical perspectives to the study of reserve forces and civil–military relations, this introduction and the five articles that follow draw on two organizing conceptual models: The first portrays reservists as transmigrants and focuses on the plural membership of reservists in the military and in civilian society and the “travel” between them. The second model focuses on the multiple formal and informal compacts (contracts, agreements, or pacts) between reservists and the military.

Civil–Military Relations and Russia’s Post-Soviet Military Culture: A Belief System Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2110629
Author(s):  
Kirill Shamiev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Culture ◽  
Institutional Autonomy ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

This article studies the role of military culture in defense policymaking. It focuses on Russia’s post-Soviet civil–military relations and military reform attempts. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s armed forces were in a state of despair. Despite having relative institutional autonomy, the military neither made itself more effective before minister Serdyukov nor tried to overthrow the government. The paper uses the advocacy coalition framework’s belief system approach to analyze data from military memoirs, parliamentary speeches, and 15 interviews. The research shows that the military’s support for institutional autonomy, combined with its elites’ self-serving bias, critically contributed to what I term an “imperfect equilibrium” in Russian civil–military relations: the military could not reform itself and fought back against radical, though necessary, changes imposed by civilian leadership.

Rwanda: Civil–Military Relations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Jowell
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
National Defense ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Practical Experiences ◽  
The One ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

The army has been a central part of Rwanda’s political system from the precolonial period until the early 21st century and is intrinsically part of the construction and politics of the state. Civil–military relations in Rwanda demonstrate not only the central features of transitioning a rebel group to a national defense sector but also how some states construct their armed forces after a period of mass violence. Since the civil war and genocide in the early 1990s, the Rwandan military has been the primary actor in politics, the economy, and state building as well as in regional wars in central Africa and the Great Lakes region. Practical experiences of guerrilla insurgency and conflict in Uganda and Rwanda, postconflict military integration, and the intertwining of political and economic agendas with the ruling party have shaped civil–military relations in Rwanda and have been central to how the Rwandan defense sector functions. Contemporary Rwandan civil–military relations center around the two elements of service delivery and control, which has resulted in the development of an effective and technocratic military in terms of remit and responsibilities on the one hand, and the creation of a politicized force of coercion on the other hand. The military in Rwanda therefore reflects the pressures and dynamics of the wider state and cannot be separated from it. The Rwandan army is thus a “political army” and is part and parcel of the political structures that oversee and govern the Rwandan state.

Paying Attention to Foreign Affairs: How Public Opinion Affects Presidential Decision Making by Thomas Knecht

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-146
Author(s):  
Terrence L. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Government Behavior ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship

Despite increased attention to the linkages between domestic politics and international relations in political science literature over the last 20 years, considerable debate remains about how well equipped citizens are to act as informed constraints on governments or how attentive and responsive government actors are to public opinion. Debates about citizens' ability to act as a check on government behavior are not new, of course, and have a long tradition in political philosophy and in public discourse. Yet the proliferation of theories of domestic–international linkages in contemporary IR scholarship has unfortunately been accompanied by incomplete dialogue between public opinion and IR scholars and often by claims of unidirectional or unconditional causality regarding domestic constraints, elite framing and opinion leadership, citizens' informational capacities, and the role of the media. The relationship among these factors in shaping foreign policy is quite complex, however, and fortunately Thomas Knecht acknowledges this complexity and advances a conditional argument about the relationship between public attitudes and presidential decision making.

scholarly journals The Islamic Movement in Israel: Ideology vs. Pragmatism

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
David Schwartz ◽  
Daniel Galily
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Islamic Movements ◽  
Oslo Accords ◽  
Islamic Movement ◽  
The Status

This study aims to present the Islamic Movement in Israel, its ideology and pragmatism. With progress and modernization, the Islamic movements in the Middle East realized that they could not deny progress, so they decided to join the mainstream and take advantage of technological progress in their favor. The movement maintains at least one website in which it publishes its way, and guides the audience. Although these movements seem to maintain a rigid ideology, they adapt themselves to reality with the help of many tools, because they have realized that reality is stronger than they are. The main points in the article are: The Status of Religion in Israel; The Legal Status of Muslim Sharia in Israel; Personal status according to Israeli law; The establishment of the Islamic Movement in Israel – Historical Background; The crystallization of movement; Theoretical Background – The Theory of Pragmatism; Ideology and goals of the Islamic Movement in Israel; The background to the split in the movement – the opposition to pragmatism; How the ideology of the movement is expressed in its activity? The movement’s attitudes toward the Israeli elections, the Oslo Accords and the armed struggle against Israel; How does pragmatism manifest itself in the movement’s activities?

scholarly journals The Degree of Military Political Autonomy during the Spanish, Argentine and Brazilian Transitions

1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Zaverucha
Keyword(s):  
Third World ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Civilian Control ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Military ◽  
Democratic Country

The state of civil–military relations in the world, especially in the Third World, is very well summed up by Mosca's statement that civilian control over the military ‘is a most fortunate exception in human history’.All over the globe, the armed forces have frequently preserved their autonomous power vis-à-vis civilians. They have also succeeded in maintaining their tutelage over some of the political regimes that have arisen from the process of transition from military to democratic governments, as in Argentina and Brazil. Spain is a remarkable exception. Today, Spain, despite its authoritarian legacy, is a democratic country. The constituted civil hierarchy has been institutionalised, military áutonomy weakened, and civilian control over the military has emerged. Spain's newly founded democracy now appears quite similar to the older European democracies.

Myanmar: Civil–Military Relations in a Tutelary Regime

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Bünte
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

Myanmar has had one of the longest ruling military regimes in the world. Ruling directly or indirectly for more than five decades, Myanmar’s armed forces have been able to permeate the country’s main political institutions, its economy, and its society. Myanmar is a highly revealing case study for examining the trajectory of civil–military relations over the past seven decades. Myanmar ended direct military rule only in 2011 after the military had become the most powerful institution in society, weakened the political party opposition severely, coopted several ethnic armed groups, and built up a business empire that allowed it to remain financially independent. The new tutelary regime—established in 2011 after proclaiming a roadmap to “discipline flourishing democracy” in 2003, promulgating a new constitution in 2008, and holding (heavily scripted) elections in 2010—allowed a degree of power-sharing between elected civilian politicians and the military for a decade. Although policymaking in economic, financial, and social arenas was transferred to the elected government, the military remained in firm control of external and internal security and continued to be completely autonomous in the management of its own affairs. As a veto power, the military was also able to protect its prerogatives from a position of strength. Despite this dominant position in the government, civil–military relations were hostile and led to a coup in February 2021. The military felt increasingly threatened and humiliated as civilians destroyed the guardrails it had put in place to protect its core interests within the tutelary regime. The military also felt increasingly alienated as the party the military had established repeatedly failed to perform in the elections.

The Role of Defence in National Cybersecurity

2021 ◽  
pp. 446-462
Author(s):  
Mika Kerttunen
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Defence Sector ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

Essential to states organizing and regulating civil-military relations, the author analyses the actual and potential role and tasks that the defence sector and armed forces can take up in national cybersecurity policy and strategy. After identifying competences and capabilities that the defence sector could employ for national cybersecurity, the chapter identifies generic roles, from being an independent actor to being another integrated stakeholder, for the defence sector and the armed forces. The author notices how inclusion of the defence sector into national cybersecurity updates the concerns of the ‘military-industrial complex’ influencing not only cybersecurity policy but also how information and communication technologies are to be used in a society. Therefore, the chapter ultimately encourages states to implement strong political control in order to avoid unnecessary securitization and militarization of information technology and cyber development policies, misuse of public mandate and funds, and, ultimately, abuses of power by any elite.

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