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

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.

Exploring the Utility of the Emerging Adulthood Theory Among Military Members and Veterans with Risky Substance Use

Emerging adult (EA; aged 18–29) military members experience major career, life, and developmental transitions. The conglomeration of these changes may influence or exacerbate anxiety or stress, produce challenges, and lead to negative coping mechanisms, such as substance use. This study sought to understand the utility of the five Emerging Adulthood Theory (EAT) dimensions among a sample of military members and veterans with risky substance use. To our knowledge, the applicability of EAT has not been explored with United States military populations. During 2019, we completed 24 semi-structured interviews. On average, participants were 24.9 years old, male, white, and in the United States Marine Corps. We asked about experiences transitioning into adulthood, military culture, and experiences of the five EAT dimensions. Three coders employed rigorous theory-driven thematic analysis procedures to piece together themes. We report EA military members’ experiences with the EAT dimensions, focusing on nuances related to the influence of military culture.

Brotherhood in Tension: The Militarized Appropriation of Homosocialism and Homoeroticism

The military is an institution that relies on norms of masculinity allegedly to sustain social cohesion between units and its identity as a “brotherhood.” This reliance subordinates femininity within the military culture and ostracizes the feminized individuals who serve. Simultaneously and paradoxically, militaries integrate homosocial, homoerotic, and feminized behaviors within their practices, traditions, and norms. This article looks at how this appropriation manifests, particularly in the German Armed Forces, locating various feminized practices adopted by military units over the past century and the adverse consequences of this appropriation. In analyzing these behaviors, I argue that this appropriation at the heart of military identity perpetuates heterosexual, hypermasculine norms that the institution idealizes by reinforcing gendered and heteronormative boundaries. In turn, I contend that this further marginalizes feminized individuals in militarized settings, particularly gay men.

Imperial Thinking and Colonial Combat in the Early Twentieth-Century Italian Army

Although designed primarily as a national institution, between the 1880s and the First World War the Italian army's military operations were all in the colonial sphere. By 1914, Italy claimed an extensive empire in East and North Africa. How far did imperialism shape Italian military culture and institutions? I identify ‘imperial thinking’ across nine areas of army activity. Italian colonialism relied on a pervasive narrative of Italian benevolence – italiani brava gente – with Italian conduct in war or as imperial rulers portrayed as inherently mild. This was accompanied by a set of anxieties we might term Adwa syndrome: after Italy's defeat by Ethiopia at Adwa in 1896, the Italian army was acutely afraid of possible violent uprisings by the local people. Many army officers expected betrayal and brutality from their colonial enemies or subjects, and acted accordingly. This outlook shaped the army's conduct both in the colonies and when dealing with European adversaries in the First World War. While the army of late Liberal Italy was structurally and doctrinally a national army, it was increasingly imperialist in mindset and outlook, which directly affected its conduct on and off the battlefield.

“The Holder of Forty Spears” in the list of Däftär-i Čingiz-nāmä: definition meaning, symbol

The article explains the meaning of the term “the Holder of Forty Spears” (“қырық сүңгілі”) in a separate list of the Turko-Tatar Chronicles Däftär-i Čingiz-nāmä at the end of the XVII century. Besides, a trial of identifying some characters was done from the mentioned source as “the Holder of Forty Spears” – Bolat bahadur” and his son “Bek bey” with real historical figures (beks, tribal chiefs) of the Golden Horde at the time of Janibek Khan. In the military history of the ancient settlers of Eurasia and late medieval Turko-Mongol nomadic tribes, spears and lances were one of the main types of weapons of the close combat and their importance was mentioned more than once in the writings. In addition to the basic, functional, combat assignment, spears and lances in the military culture and traditions of the Turko-Mongol nomads of the Great Steppe had a symbolic meaning. A spear, as a means of armament, used in a ram attack and a close combat, evolved into the symbol of statehood in the form of banners, flags, and possessing them equaled the status of “a commander-in-chief” or “a major warlord”. In this regard, by analyzing and taking into consideration continual several century-long military traditions of the steppe nomads, the article implies the word combination “the Holder of Forty Spears” (“қырық сүңгілі”) in Däftär-i Čingiz-nāmä is equal to “Commander-in- Chief Army”, in other words, in our opinion, in this source spear-lance is represented as an abstracted textual symbol indicating “an army”, “a huge troop” and its Holder as “a commander-in-chief”, “major warlord”.

Military Psychology- Need, Scope and Challenges

The history of military psychology dates back to the times of World War I and World War II when army Alpha and army beta tests were constructed by psychologists. The army Alpha test was constructed by Robert Yerkes along with his colleagues in the year 1917 to evaluate The US military recruits during World War I. The aim of this research is to understand, evaluate the need of military psychology and its scope and challenges face by the armed forces of India. With this research article, the aim is also to highlight the qualitative relationship of psychology and military culture. With this paper the author aims to analyze how the Indian military culture functions and what role psychology plays in its functioning. The armed forces have always displayed its zeal, sheer wit and courage in strengthening the structure of Democratic country like India. The attempt is to explore in depth, the need of military psychology and how military psychologists or psychologists in general can help the military personnel during times of psychological distress. This research also provides ways in which the mental health professionals can strengthen this relationship with the armed forces of India.

Assessing the Effects of Regimented Administrative Structure of Education on Pupils Academic Performance of Basic Schools in Military Barracks, Ghana

Over the last five years, there has been a downward trend in the BECE performance by pupils in the Basic schools of military barracks in Ghana. The military high command has been concerned about the current performance of pupils in the BECE, and the responsibility lies with the Directorate of Education of the Ghana Armed forces to undertake all efforts at reversing the tide. The study is predicated upon the need to explore all possible causes of a consistent downward trend of BECE performance over the past five years. It is speculated that in the case of the Armed Forces schools, the quality of education could either be significantly enhanced or diminished by the peculiarity of the administration. Thus, the study quantitatively examined the place of military culture as a part of the administration and how the phenomenon impacts academic performance. The findings revealed that not only does military culture impact teacher work output, but the coercive nature of the relationship between the Educational Officers and civilian teaching staff is detrimental to the academic environment. Therefore, this paper recommends that the coercive administrative approach be modified to allow for a much more cooperative and social approach, which would create a conducive and free environment for academic work and consequently improve academic performances.