This book is a comprehensive analysis of the various social science approaches to explaining and interpreting war, peace and the military. Its central aim is to trace and reconstruct those basic assumptions constructed and 'thought processes' undertaken by modern social sciences in their research and conceptualization of military violence and the use of force. In addition to such reconstruction, the aim is also to enquire into the preconditions of such thought. This study therefore eschews the development of an explicit 'strategy' (in the sense of a research strategy), but instead is much more concerned with thinking about its subject matter by means of re-thinking and reflecting upon different theoretical approaches and problems. The investigation includes a critical reexamination of the tradition of military-sociological research from the beginning of modern sociology to late-twentieth century theoretical approaches regarding the security-focused and/or war-driven aspects of modern society.
Author(s): Franz Kernic
Series: Militär und Sozialwissenschaften/The Military and Social Research, 56
Publisher: Springer VS
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 174
City: Wiesbaden
Preface
References
Acknowledgment
Contents
1 Social Sciences and the Military: Preliminary Remarks
1.1 Theoretical Aspects
1.2 Military Sociology and the Study of the Military
References
2 Modern Society and the Military: Early Sociological Approaches
2.1 Industrialization and Modernity: Changes in the Military Institution and its Role in Modern Society
2.2 The Classical Social Science Incompatibility Theorem (Comte, Spencer and Tocqueville)
2.3 Max Weber: Military Discipline, Rationality and Domination
References
3 Political Economy and Military Organization
3.1 Class Structure and Military Power: From Marx and Engels to Lenin
3.2 Capitalism, Militarism, the Nation State and War—Selected Neo-Marxist Explanations
3.3 Economic Theory and Military Thinking
References
4 Democracy and the Military—Updating the Incompatibility Theorem
4.1 The New School of the Incompatibility Theorem
4.2 Social Science Critique of the New Incompatibility Theorem
4.3 Changing Values and Military Organization
4.4 Political System and Military and Defense Structures
4.5 Democracy and the Military
References
5 The Issue of Acceptance and Legitimacy of Modern Armed Forces
5.1 Acceptance of the Military and Security Policy
5.2 The Need for the Military to Justify Itself in Modern Democratic Societies
5.3 Toward a Renaissance of the Military?
References
6 The Concept of Modern ‘Rational’ Security Policy
6.1 The Theory of Deterrence as a Rational Concept of Security Policy?
6.2 The Rationality of Security Policy as an Antidote to the Irrationality of Violence?
6.3 The Military and the Paradox of Security
6.4 At the End of the Distance to the Other: The Omnipresence and Logic of Military Violence
References
7 War, Peace and Military Violence: A Phenomenological Inquiry
7.1 Egology, Totality and the Evidence of War
7.2 The Phenomenon of War
7.3 War and Being
7.4 Responsibility and the Foundation of Peace
References
8 Rethinking Politics and Social Science Beyond the War Paradigm: A Sketch
References
