Gerhard Kümmel - Böcker

The authors of this collection combine different national and institutional perspectives. They cover a broad range of subjects: new threats to Europe's security, the advantages and disadvantages of the present security architecture in Europe, the problem of nuclear weapons and their control, the options for enlargement and partnership for peace, the shifts in Europeans' public opinion about security matters, and the prospects for a European defence industry. This collection provides an incomparable synthesis of some of the most crucial problems for the emergence of Europe as an independent actor in international politics.

This volume explores three recent challenges the military faces: changing missions, changing socio-economic and demographic conditions, and end of conscription. The military will have to change its view of the world, the nature of conflicts and its profession considerably.

The study of armed forces and conflict resolution has undergone important developments at the turn of the millennium, driven by emerging events. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, the resurgence of nationalism and religious wars, ethnic cleansing, September Eleven, the War on Terror, and asymmetric warfare, the United Nations' inability to manage and successfully conclude military operations, are so many flash points of how much things have changed since the Cold War. The action of militaries has become more important, more difficult, more controversial, and, at the same time, insufficient, without parallel methods and political actions for resolving conflicts. As scholars conceptions of conflicts have changed, so have their understanding of conflict resolution and peace. This latter scholarship now spans analyses of the role of governments, civil institutions, and organized groups. The studies of building and sustaining peace now span institutional, inter-actional, and interpersonal levels in order to conceptualize a more holistic, long-term vision of peace.This book brings together contributions from scholars of various social science disciplines on three themes that appeared significant for the study of the phenomenon of conflict and conflict resolution. The first theme is centered on the new aspects of war in the twenty-first century where asymmetric warfare has changed many rules of the game, imposing a profound transformation on the military, not only tactical, but also structural, preparatory, mental and ideological.The second theme regards the delicate relations between the armed forces and societies. The ever-greater technicality of military operations and their lower comprehensibility to the broad public as a result, together with increased sensitivity in many countries in regard to the use of violence and death, have created social situations and problems that deserve to be investigated. The third theme, building and sustaining peace, operationalizes different types and levels of violence and conflict. It assesses ongoing efforts, for instance, governments trying to contain or diffuse conflict, businesses and national service schemes building peaceful civil spheres, and the efforts of organized groups to claim, shape, and extend the spheres of life that are free of conflict.

Private Sicherheits- und Militarunternehmen erleben seit den 1990er Jahren einen ausserordentlichen Boom und sind derzeit eines der spannendsten Phanomene in den internationalen Beziehungen. Die Palette der von ihnen angebotenen Dienstleistungen ist gross. Sie reichen von logistischer Unterstutzung uber Aufklarung bis hin zu Kampfeinsatzen. Zu ihren Kunden zahlen Regierungen, Wirtschaftsunternehmen, internationale Organisationen, NGOs, humanitare Organisationen sowie Privatpersonen. Gegenwartig lasst sich an den Auseinandersetzungen im Irak sowohl die Aktualitat wie auch die Brisanz ihres Einsatzes illustrieren, gibt es doch Anzeichen dafur, dass Beschaftigte solcher Unternehmen u.a. in die Folterung von Gefangenen verwickelt sind. Die Beitrage des Sammelbandes aus der Feder nationaler wie internationaler Expertinnen und Experten beschreiben und analysieren verschiedene Typen von privaten Sicherheits- und Militarunternehmens, ihre Dienstleistungen und die Umstande, die ihren Boom befordert haben. Sie diskutieren die Vor- wie auch die Nachteile ihres Einsatzes und beschreiben Instrumente, die die Tatigkeit dieser Unternehmen starker reglementieren und kontrollieren konnten.

This collection of articles basically originates in Durban, South Africa. In late July 2006, the International Sociological Association (ISA) held its World Congress of Sociology in the beautiful landscape of Southern Africa. As usual on these occasions, the ISA's Research Committee: Armed Forces & Conflict Resolution (RC 01) organized several sessions dealing with issues of military sociology, the sociology of war and conflict resolution. One of these sessions looked at Women in the Military: National and International Per­ spectives and was chaired by Helena Carreiras from Portugal and Leena Parmar from India. As this session turned out to be very interesting and substantial, we, the editors deemed it worthwhile to make these papers available to a larger audi­ ence and thus contribute to the ongoing debate about war, the armed forces and the role of women in both war, violent conflict and the military. This an­ thology, then, contains the revised and updated versions of the papers that have been presented in Durban plus one or the other article that has been written specifically for the purposes of this book.

It is an honor for us to introduce this collection of essays, which is dedicated to an old friend and colleague who is no longer with us. It is an honor, but also a pleasure because we feel like continuing a dialogue with Jürgen; one that has never broken down over the years, revisiting and recalling the diff- ent places and occasions where we met, discussed, collaborated and had fun. We, that is, Giuseppe Caforio, Christopher Dandeker and Gerhard Kümmel who have been friends and/or colleagues of and research collaborators with Jürgen and who represent three prominent institutions and organizations with which Jürgen worked, felt that this book is something we owe to Jürgen and we are grateful that many people who at different times and at different places had contact with Jürgen and his work were willing to contribute a chapter to this anthology. Most of Jürgen’s studies, professional work and research activities took place at the Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sciences (SOWI). Jürgen, born in 1938, had joined the Bundeswehr in 1957 and had already worked at the SOWI’s predecessor institution, the Scientific Institute for Education in the Armed Forces from 1971 onwards after having finished his university? st- ies. Since this institute was renamed SOWI in 1974, Jürgen belonged to the first generation of researchers that worked at the SOWI.

The present anthology stems from the perception of a widespread and manifest uneasiness concerning the business of military intervention in our times. what kind of military intervention policies is wanted and what kind of military intervention policies is financially, politically and socio-culturally possible and militarily feasible?

Thematisiert werden die militärische Organisationskultur und die Führungsphilosophie der Bundeswehr, die Veränderung des militärischen Aufgabenprofils sowie die Formierung des soldatischen Selbstverständnisses durch Auslandseinsätze, aber auch die Integration von Frauen, die Attraktivität der Streitkräfte und deren ökonomische Modernisierung.

Mit militärischer Sozialisation werden Anpassungsvorgänge zwischen Individuen und dem Militär (hier: der Bundeswehr) bezeichnet, wobei kulturspezifische Wahrnehmungs-, Verhaltens- und Ausdrucksmuster durch die Einzelnen in einem interaktiven Prozess ausgehandelt und teilweise auch einfach übernommen werden. Neben einer grundlegenden Sozialisation zur Wehrhaftigkeit werden die durch das Militär vermittelten Fähigkeiten, Prägungen und Identitäten hinsichtlich der beruflichen, politischen, organisationalen, aber auch geschlechtsspezifischen Entwicklung des Einzelnen und damit auch gesamtgesellschaftlich wirksam.