Conflicting Modernities: Militarization and Islands

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aide Esu ◽  
Simone Maddanu
Keyword(s):  
Local Population ◽  
Military Spending ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ideological Dimension ◽  
The Military ◽  
Alternative Modernity

This chapter mainly points out how militarization as a bureaucratic and discursive “apparatus” results in a colonial modernization. Furthermore, the chapter establishes a direct link between military settlements – by various occupations – and a narrative of modernization and modernity. Both military protocols and the scope of the military activities contribute to a form of colonization and dependence, economically as well as culturally. Militarization is a wider concept involving at least two dimensions: the economic and political factors sustaining the expansion of military spending; and the social, cultural, and ideological dimension. However, the master narrative of modernization clashes with rising claims to autonomy in the local population that assert an alternative modernity.

Winning Hearts and Minds

Head Strong ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 138-157
Author(s):  
Michael D. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
The Social ◽  
World Opinion ◽  
Tactical Decisions ◽  
The Military ◽  
Hearts And Minds

In the large wars of the 20th century, victory depended first and foremost on raw combat power. Bigger and more powerful bombs, faster and more deadly aircraft, and better tanks and warships determined who won the battle. These weapons continue to be important but now, more than ever, strategic victory hinges on cultural savvy and the ability to win over the opinion and support of the population where military operations are occurring and worldwide public opinion as well. It does little good to win a battle if, in doing so, the local population is alienated and world opinion soiled. This chapter examines how the military is going about the task of training cultural awareness and sensitivity among its members and how psychological science may be used to improve operational success by enabling military leaders to base tactical decisions, at least in part, on the social and cultural terrain. Social network analysis and negation training is described.

Collaboration supports successful outcomes

Impact ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (9) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Antonio Loprieno
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Science Research ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Learned Societies ◽  
Framework Conditions

ALLEA (All European Academies) is the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. It was founded in 1994 and brings together almost 60 Academies of Sciences and Learned Societies from over 40 countries in the Council of Europe region. ALLEA is financed by annual dues from its member academies and remains fully independent from political, religious, commercial or ideological interests.<br/> Member Academies operate as learned societies, think tanks, or research performing organisations. They are self-governing communities of leaders of scholarly enquiry across all fields of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities. ALLEA therefore provides access to an unparalleled human resource of intellectual excellence, experience and expertise. Furthermore, its integrative membership structure comprises Academies from both EU and non-EU member states in Europe.<br/> ALLEA seeks to contribute to improving the framework conditions under which science and scholarship can excel. Jointly with its Member Academies, ALLEA is in a position to address the full range of structural and policy issues facing Europe in science, research and innovation. In doing so, it is guided by a common understanding of Europe, bound together by historical, social and political factors as well as for scientific and economic reasons.

Indonesian Historical Writing after Independence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Dutch Version ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Academic History ◽  
Artistic Representations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Military ◽  
Local Perspectives

This chapter discusses Indonesian historical writing after independence. At the time Indonesia became independent, knowledge of academic history-writing was virtually non-existent. Indonesian elites then faced the postcolonial predicament of having to adopt Western nationalistic approaches to history in order to oppose the Dutch version of the archipelago’s history that had legitimized colonial domination. Soon after independence, the military took over and dominated the writing of history in Indonesia for several decades. Challenges to the military’s view of history came from artistic representations of history, and from historians—trained in the social sciences—who emphasized a multidimensional approach balancing central and local perspectives. However, it was only after 2002 that historians could openly criticize the role of the military.

Surface Media: McLuhan, the Bauhaus and the Tactile Values of TV

2021 ◽  
pp. 1357034X2110089
Author(s):  
Henning Schmidgen
Keyword(s):  
Media Use ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Sense Of Touch ◽  
Light Beams ◽  
Digital Computers

Marshall McLuhan understood television (TV) as a tactile medium. This understanding implied what Bruno Latour might call a ‘symmetrical’ conception of tactility. According to McLuhan, not only human actors are endowed with the sense of touch. In addition, TV, digital computers and other ‘electric media’ use light beams and similar scanning techniques for ceaselessly ‘caressing the contours’ of their surroundings. This notion of tactility was crucially shaped by the holistic aesthetics of the early Bauhaus. To get at the specific features of the TV image, McLuhan relied on the writings of László Moholy-Nagy and Sigfried Giedion, in particular their use of photography for capturing and highlighting the ‘texture’ of surfaces. However, he hardly reflected the social and political factors that, in the age of electric media, contribute to the ‘symmetricization’ of touch.

Post-Heroic Warfare Revisited: Meaning and Legitimation of Military Losses

Sociology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 898-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Frisk
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Moral Worth ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Social ◽  
Military Engagement ◽  
Military Campaign ◽  
The Military ◽  
Second World

The article challenges the thesis that western societies have moved towards a post-heroic mood in which military casualties are interpreted as nothing but a waste of life. Using content analysis and qualitative textual analysis of obituaries produced by the Royal Danish Army in memory of soldiers killed during the Second World War (1940–1945) and the military campaign in Afghanistan (2002–2014), the article shows that a ‘good’ military death is no longer conceived of as a patriotic sacrifice, but is instead legitimised by an appeal to the unique moral worth, humanitarian goals and high professionalism of the fallen. The article concludes that fatalities in international military engagement have invoked a sense of post-patriotic heroism instead of a post-heroic crisis, and argues that the social order of modern society has underpinned, rather than undermined, ideals of military self-sacrifice and heroism, contrary to the predominant assumption of the literature on post-heroic warfare.

R2P's Missing Link, Culture

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rama Mani ◽  
Thomas G. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Global South ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
The North ◽  
The Military ◽  
Universal Norm

AbstractCulture has been absent from analyses and debates about the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm. The use of the military to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya and to protect civilians took place with support from the local population and more widely across the Arab World even when the dominant 'culture' supposedly made outside interference unthinkable. As R2P enters its second decade, a deeper understanding of culture is desirable, as is the incorporation of cultural perspectives in framing responses to mass atrocities. UN debates and resolutions have helped dispel myths about R2P and reaffirmed its validity as a universal norm that is close to a 'tipping point'. Instead of an 'emerging' norm (the original contention in 2001 by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty), R2P has 'emerged' as consensus continues to widen and deepen across the North and the global South. This essay shares insights from research about cultural perspectives in the global South from local researchers who explore three themes (religion and spirituality, philosophy and ethics, and art and aesthetics) and three country cases (Rwanda, Kosovo, and Nepal).

“A Chosen People”: Religious Discourse and the Making of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821-1871

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-38
Author(s):  
Douglass Sullivan-González
Keyword(s):  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Graphic Narrative ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Social ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Social Upheaval ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time ◽  
White Elite

No clearer testimony evidenced the social upheaval and shifting political landscape in Guatemala in February 1838 than the graphic narrative by the traveling United States' diplomat, John Lloyd Stephens. Recently arrived in the capital for the first time, Stephens witnessed the insurrectionary triumph of the military caudillo, Rafael Carrera, and his “tumultuous mass of half-naked savages, men, women, and children, estimated at ten or twelve thousand.” Stephens described how Carrera's indigenous followers, upon entering the abandoned plaza and within earshot of the terrified white elite shouted “Long live religion and death to foreigners!” Carrera's political uprising incited by religious concerns had laid siege to the power structure inherited from colonial times.

Israel's Military Aid to Africa, 1960–66

1971 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Donor Country ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Assistance ◽  
Military Aid ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recipient Government ◽  
The Military

DURING the late 1950S and early 19605, Israel mounted an active campaign of aid to Africa, which took three main forms: technical help in agriculture, joint commercial ventures, and military assistance. Of the three, the military and quasi-military programmes made the most considerable mark in Africa;1 they were also an important part of Israel's overall foreign policy, in an attempt to gain political influence through military aid, and thus to help overcome her isolation in the Middle East. Israel's military assistance to Africa illustrates several important aspects of foreign aid. This article deals mainly with the political motives of the donor country, and the various ways in which it may be concerned to influence the actions of the recipient government. Later, there is some discussion of the social and cultural barriers to the transfer of military and para-military organisations from one culture to another.

Propagana competition between “Prosvita” and The A. Dukhnovych Society for the Rusinian audience of Subcarpathian Rus during the interwar period

Rusin ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 176-200
Author(s):  
O.M. Kutska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Interwar Period ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Radio Broadcasting ◽  
The Social ◽  
Limited Application ◽  
Visual Materials ◽  
Personal Understanding

This article analyzes the informational activity of two societies – “Prosvita” (Eng. Enlightenment) and The A. Dukhnovych Society among Rusinian population of Subcarpathian Rus using modern approaches to the propaganda analysis, which implies answering the questions of who, whom on, what methods and forms are used. In particular, it has been found out that both societies had similar structures, with their members being representatives of intelligentsia with Ukrainophile and Russophile views respectively. They were also joined by the representatives of emigration and local population. The Rusinian audience had a relatively low educational level, and many residents of Subcarpathian Rus could not make up their minds whether they were of Rusinian ethnicity and what religion they practiced. The main forms of informing were printed press, oral transmission and radio broadcasting. Most often, the societies used polygraphic means of propaganda, since they were the easiest to produce. Oral transmission also proved quite productive, since it did not require significant expenditures. Radio was of limited application due to lack of receiving equipment. The author’s perspective of the propaganda methods has been formed through the analysis of individual episodes, informational and visual materials about the social and political life of Carpathian Rus and the activities of “Prosvita” and The A. Dukhnovich Society. Among the most popular methods were persuasion, suggestion, manipulation, and disinformation. However, it is possible to speak about their application only conditionally, since there was no propaganda technique in its modern understanding. The representatives of the societies under analsysis acted out of their personal understanding of campaigning methods and responding to the information needs of the Rusin community.

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