CIAO DATE: 05/2013
Volume: 11, Issue: 4
Summer 2009
Editorial (PDF)
Terry Terriff, John Ferris, Jim Keeley
The Journal of Military and Strategic Studies is among the oldest academic electronic journals in Canada, and also among the first international periodicals in this field. It published its first issue in 1998. The JMSS produced one or two issues per year up to 2004; starting that year it has published four issues per year. The journal is an open access and peer reviewed publication that aims to disseminate original scholarship in strategic and military studies to an academic audience, and also a public one, both nationally and internationally, and to provide a forum for the discussion of issues related to Canadian security, broadly defined. It approaches these topics from an academic position, open to all sectors of opinion, rather than one of advocacy. It includes editorials, independent and critical, on matters of current affairs, but its editorial stance is distinct from its academic one. The JMSS adopted an electronic and fully open-access format from the start, because that medium provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring original scholarship to a public audience, and also allows timely and rapid dissemination of results, so maximizing the chance for academic work to affect attitudes and behaviour. From the start, the JMSS has sought to take scholarship from the ivory tower and bring it to public attention, in order to affect debate and decisions. The JMSS also supports the ideals of the open access movement, aiming to eliminate barriers to the dissemination of scholarship, and to make research open, free and permanently available through the internet to all potential users.
A Rational-constructivist Explanation for the Evolution and Decline of the Norm against Mercenarism (PDF)
Scott Fitzsimmons
This paper addresses four related questions: why do norms of military practice develop, spread, gain acceptance, and become internalized? Why are accepted norms sometimes abandoned in favour of contradictory norms? Why did many state leaders become convinced that citizen armies should be the accepted norm in modern military practice and adopt a norm delegitimizing the practice of using mercenaries to implement state defence policies? Why did some state leaders become convinced at the end of the twentieth century to adopt a new norm legitimizing the use of mercenaries to implement state defence policies once again? In response to these questions, this paper hypothesizes that norms of military practice develop, spread, gain acceptance, become internalized, and are later replaced with contradictory norms based largely on four key factors: first, norms of military practice benefit from the development and promotion of a rationale outlining the utility of adopting the norm. Second, these norms benefit from states that champion the norm through successfully demonstrating the utility of adhering to the norm's behavioral propositions. Third, these norms benefit from military circumstances that render states receptive to the rationale outlining the utility of adopting the norm. Finally, in order to become internalized, these norms benefit from the eventual transformation of the rationale underpinning them into a set of largely unquestioned assumptions about the utility of adhering to the norm. Continuing this logic, this essay hypothesizes that the development, spread, acceptance, internalization and later rejection and replacement of the norm against mercenarism conformed to these dynamics.
The Theoretical Aspect of Targeted Killings: The Phoenix Program as a Case Study (PDF)
Tal Tovy
One of the measures employed in the war against guerrilla warfare and terrorism is the targeted killing, with the main aim of directly attacking the higher-ranking (both military leaders and political cadres) activists of the guerrilla or terror organizations and refraining, as far as possible, from injuring innocent citizens. This article has two purposes. The first is to examine the military theory that supports the mechanism for this kind of activity. The second is to explain the essential nature of targeted killings as an operational tool, on both the strategic and tactical levels, in the war against guerrilla warfare and terrorism. By this we can ask how the theories that stand behind the war against guerrilla or terrorism had an influence on the targeted killings. Therefore we need to see the targeted killing as a warfare model of counterterrorism and not as a criminal action.
Auditory Situation Awareness in Urban Operations (PDF)
Angélique Scharine, Tomasz Letowski, James B. Sampson
Soldiers conducting urban operations (UO) require focused attention and heightened awareness due to the complexity of the operational environment and its dangers. Often visual information is lacking, forcing combatants to rely heavily on auditory information. Unfortunately, Soldiers have reported difficulty using sound information; they cannot locate the sources of sounds and are distracted by irrelevant sounds. This report details how the urban acoustic environment affects situation awareness. It summarizes research literature on auditory localization and describes how auditory observations affect Soldier operations. It stresses that the same physical properties of the environment that interfere with vision may interfere with sound recognition and localization. Further, the quantity of information, relevant and irrelevant, makes it difficult for the Soldier to process all of the information available. Although the most effective tool is training and experience, we also suggest a few simple strategic and technical solutions.
Renee Black
In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security recognizing for the first time that women disproportionately face the consequences of conflict and should therefore be included in decision-making at all levels during peace processes and post-conflict governance. However in the eight years since its adoption, many questions remain regarding the Security Council's commitment to this agenda. This paper examines the language of Security Council resolutions between 1998 and 2008 to evaluate how Resolution 1325 has influenced the language of conflict-specific Security Council resolutions. I conclude that while Resolution 1325 has actually led to a significant increase in the numbers of references to women in resolution language, references are much more likely to call for the protection of women and are significantly less likely to call for their active participation in decision-making processes.
The Tragedy of Anarchy: A Realist Appraisal of the Environmental Dimensions of Civil Conflict (PDF)
Meghan Spilka O’Keefe
This paper adds to the existing literature regarding the environmental-dimensions of conflict by proposing a model that explains how resource-based conflict can occur by using the basic tenets of realism to identify environmental dimensions of civil war. What makes the argument distinctive from other scholars is the chain of causality that is identified. A chain of causality is observed in which the condition of anarchy produces resource shortages. It is argued that this condition gives rise to the ‘tragedy of the commons,’ which produces resource scarcities, security dilemmas and resource-based hostilities. Security dilemmas, it is argued, can fuel resource-motivated violence, and prisoner’s dilemmas can perpetuate insecurity and violence among participants. The paper concludes by suggesting that if leaders and policy-makers address the causal role that the environment plays in conflict, they might be able to prevent conflict or better foster lasting peace.
Why Time Works Against a Counterinsurgency (PDF)
Eric Jardine
Through a detailed historical analysis of the British counterinsurgency efforts in Malaya, this paper provides a timely and policy-relevant answer to the question: Why does time work against a counterinsurgency? As the case study indicates, time, quite paradoxically, works against the counterinsurgency in two distinct categorical fashions. First, time functions against the counterinsurgency in a political sense. That is, the frequently external quality of a counterinsurgency lessens the extent of the possible political commitment which they can expect to receive from their home population. As a result, they often need to complete their campaign in a more expedient fashion. Secondly, in a more insidious and common result, time works against the counterinsurgency in a material way. That is, in the absence of control over the local population, public goods—such as aid and humanitarian assistance—given directly to the local people come to support the very insurrection that confronts the counterinsurgency.
Insider Anthropology and the Study of the Canadian Forces Reserves (PDF)
Derek MacIssac, Anne Irwin, Charles Mather
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of ‘autoethnography’ as an innovative contributor to the field of military and defence studies. Autoethnography is an ethnographic approach that positions the author as the primary subject and utilizes the authors’ self-accounts and reflexive reports, interpreted by the author within a broader social context, to gain a better cultural understanding of a given society. The author is typically an affiliate of the group and, therefore, this method has been commonly associated with ‘insider anthropology.’ Research of such a reflexive and personal nature may allow for insights into problems that traditional ‘scientific’ research may previously have overlooked or unreported. Social science research on the Canadian Forces Primary Reserves is in its infancy and an autoethnographical approach to military and defence studies has the potential to provide insights to such human relations and enhance the understanding of the Canadian Forces as a whole. However, this innovative approach is not without its limitations. In this paper we will further discuss the limits of autoethnography and the potential value of auto-ethnographic reporting to military and defence studies.
Bonnie G. Rourke, The Sea Cadet Years on Georgian Bay. Midland, ON: Huronia Museum, 2008. (PDF)
Claire Campbell
Christine Leppard