ASTK12142U Heroes, Humanitarians or Hooligans? Examining Contemporary Soldier Identity

Volume 2013/2014
Content
Who is the soldier and why does it matter who (s)he is? This course examines professional actors of war, and how these are formed and re-socialised through training and other forms for conditioning in the military institution. We examine how ability to repress civilian habits and to carry out violence is formed, as well as the extrinsic motivations for soldiering and soldiers’ ideas of sacrifice.
We examine civil-military relations in terms of cultural depictions of war and the idealised soldier, and how these depictions in the wider society impacts upon the individual soldiers self-perception and self-imagination.

The course examines the extent to which solders are tasked with roles that goes beyond traditional and conventional military ‘criteria’, such as self-defence, to include several facets of the peacebuilding, peacekeeping and peacemaking processes, in addition to combat requirements and how these roles fit with their identity.

Throughout, there will be a particular focus on research-based teaching. I will draw upon my own research on soldier identity with soldiers from the national military in Rwanda as well as interviews with American and British soldiers. There will therefore be particular (though by no means exclusive) focus on African armed forces and militaries in post-conflict societies. Guest speakers with field experience will be drawn in where appropriate.

The content below may be adapted to fit with guest speakers and current events: 

1.      Introduction to the course

An introduction into the overall objectives with the course, getting you interested and thinking about the general topics of the course.

2.      Challenges on Current Mission 3 hrs

Solders are tasked with roles that goes beyond traditional and conventional military ‘criteria’, such as self-defence, to include several facets of the peacebuilding, peacekeeping and peacemaking processes, in addition to combat requirements.

3.      Combat and Peace

Are peacekeeping tasks conflicting with the traditional soldier roles and identity?

4.      From Rebel Forces to a State Military

Who is the non-state warrior and how are they transformed into the state soldier?

5.      Re-socialisation through the Military Institution (+ talk about assignments) 3 hrs

Ability to repress civilian habits, and to carry out violence as well as the extrinsic motivations for combat are enabled through military “resocialisation” processes, including training and other forms for conditioning. These will be discussed and examined. In addition we will talk about what makes a good exam essay and about expectations to the exam

6.      The Soldier as a National Hero 3 hrs

Who and what is a hero? Cultural depictions of war and the idealised soldier linked to heroism will be examined in relation to how these are expressed in the military and in the western imagination of soldiers and in soldiers’ identification of themselves

7.      Motivation for Serving and Killing

War is only possible in the moment, when someone is ready to kill. What motivates, and enables, the soldier to carry out violence and to sacrifice his/her life?

8.      Understanding Atrocities and Rational Violence

Why is civil war so violent? Understanding ability to carry out violence.

9.      Essay Guidance plus Mid-way Evaluation 3 hrs

10.  The Ideal Warrior Type

This lecture will be a discussion of the soldier as an ideal warrior type. What characterises a warrior? Is it their relation to violence and ability and joy related to killing? Is s/he different from a soldier? What skills does this individual hold and why?

11.   The Professional Soldier

This lecture will be a discussion of the soldier as an ideal type. The ideal type examined is Huntington’s idea of the professional soldier. What makes the soldier professional and what characteristics does s/he hold.

12.   Wrap up
Learning Outcome
At the end of the course the student will be able to:

  • Describe what enables people to conduct and carry out violence (both legitimate and illegitimate)
     
  • Illustrate understandings of identity theory
     
  • Illustrate understandings of the resolicatisation processes in the military institution
     
  • Describe and analyse theories of soldiers and warriors
     
  • Illustrate understandings of the roles undertaken by soldiers on operations and how this correlate with their military training and soldier identity

In the essay the student will be expected to utilise and apply the theoretical and empirical knowledge attained during the course rather than merely reproducing the theories.

Miller, L. and Moskos, C. 1995. Humanitarians or Warriors? Race, Gender, and Combat Status in Operation Restore Hope, Armed Forces and Society, Vol. 21, No. 4. p. 615-637

Celestino, P. 2012. The Soldier as Lethal Warrior and Cooperative Political Agent: On Soldier’s Ethical and Political Obligations toward the Indigenous Other, Armed Forces and Society, Vol 38 No 2. p.177-204

Goffman, Asylum On the characteristics of the total institution p. 1-124

Coker. C. 2007. The Warrior Ethos, Military Culture and The War on Terror, Ch. 6 Warrior Ethos, p.132-147

Coker. C. 2007. The Warrior Ethos, Military Culture and The War on Terrorthe unhappy warrior ch 1 pp1-15 ch 2 achilles and the warrior soul p. 16-45 in The warrior ethos

Dawson, G. 1994. Soldier Heroes, British Adventure, Empire and the imagining of Masculinities. Ch. 9 Playing at Soldiers: Boyhood Phantasies and The Pleasure-Culture of WAR p 233-259, Ch 10. Self-imagining: Boyhood Masculinity, Social Recognition and the Adventure Hero p. 259-282.London: Routledge

Prividera, L. C. and Howard III J. W. Year Masculinity, Whiteness, and the Warrior Hero: Perpetuating the Strategic Rhetoric of U.S.Nationalism and the Marginalization of Women, Women and Language, Vol. 29. No. 2 p 29-37

Woodward, R. 2000. Warrior Heroes and Little Green Men: Soldiers, Military Training, and the Construction of Rural Masculinities Rural Sociology Vol. 65 No. 4 p. 640-65

Dalby. S. 2008. Warrior geopolitics: Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and The Kingdom of Heaven, Political Geography, Vol. 27 p. 439-455

Lt. Col. Grossman, D. 2004. On Combat, The Psyhology and Phsiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace, Ch. 3, 5, 6

Newsome, B. 2003. The Myth of Intrinsic Combat Motivation, Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol 26 No. 4 p 24-46

Henriksen. R. 2007. Warriors in combat – what makes people actively fight in combat? Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol 30, No 2 p. 187-223

Hoffman. D. 2011. Violence, Just in Time: War and Work in Contemporary West Africa, Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 26 No 1 p. 34-57

Mazower, Mark. 2002. ‘ Violence and the State in the Twentieth Century.’ American Historical Review 107, 4: p. 1158-1178.

Zimbardo, Philip G, Christina Maslach and Craig Haney. 2000. ‘Reflections on the Stanford Prison Experiment: Genesis, Transformations, Consequences.’ In T. Blass

(ed.), Obedience to Authority: Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Browning, Christopher. 1992. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York: HarperPerennial (chapter 18). P. 159-189

Lary, Diana. 1985. “Bad Iron”, chapter 7, in her, ‘Warlord Soldiers’: Chinese Common Soldiers 1911-1937, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 83-91

Mkandawire, Thandika. 2000. “ The Terrible Toll of Post-Colonial ‘Rebel Movements’ in Africa: Towards an Explanation of the Violence against the Peasantry.’ Journal of Modern African Studies 40, 2: p. 181-205

Gilligan, James. 1999. Violence: Reflections on Our Deadliest Epidemic, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, chapter 5 (Shame: The Emotions and Morality of Violence), p. 103-136

Kalyvas, Stathis. 2003. ‘The Ontology of “Political Violence”: Action and Identity in Civil Wars.’ Perspectives on Politics 1, 3: p. 475-494
 
 
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A minimum of a BSc level education in social or political sciences with an interest in military studies, development studies and/or conflict studies.
The course will consist of 12 lectures instead of 14 because four of the lectures will be 3 hour long instead of two to allow for depth and reflection.

The format will be a combination of teacher presentations, supervised student discussions of the readings, and possibly student presentations. The course will draw in practitioners and experts in order to apply the theories to experiences in the field.
This course is useful for students who wish to further their understandings of humanitarian emergencies and the roles and identity of soldiers. This knowledge is highly useful to careers in international development, international relations, diplomacy and military organisations.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Exam
  • 79
  • Preparation
  • 168
  • Total
  • 275
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Students are required to write one essay of:
5.250 words (if written independently)
8.650 words (two students)
12.250 words (three students)
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
  • Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course’s goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
     
  • Grade 7 given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
     
  • Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner