Since the end of the Cold War, the combined influence of audiovisual media, modern urban conflicts and asymmetric enemies has generated a new kind of military live training simulation to prepare soldiers for future combats. These novel hybrid exercise battlefields are situated in artificially constructed urban spaces and integrate real physical training with techniques and imagery inspired by the fields of cinema and media. This thesis critically examines this convergence of entertainment practices and images in military training and the resulting, potentially negative, impacts on the execution of warfare and perception of urban spaces and populations. The thesis begins by tracing the evolution of terrain representations in wargames – from black and white squares, painted landscape elements and actual maps, to virtual environments, miniature houses and real-scale architectures. The historical relationship between the film industry and military training is analysed in order to explore the emergence of cinematic components in simulated combat training landscapes that brought the flat world of wargames to its real third dimension. The mock urban training space is then investigated as a “meta-cinematic city” – a city created through cinematic tools, including set and sound design, which portrays a cinematic city (a city as represented through a filmic medium). This analysis focuses on how cinematic elements, such as creative geographies and architectural sequences, are created in order to train for the subversion of traditional conceptions of urban spaces and architectural elements in urban combats. Furthermore, the examination reveals how the sensory qualities of moving image technologies are employed to generate a multi-sensory “hyperrealism” and “hyperimmersion” to train physical and emotional reactions and engrain military responses to combat stimuli. The analysis furthermore excavates both the conscious and unconscious remediation of media imagery and practices in the creation of the artificial “human terrain”. The mise-en-scène of the enemy population is investigated in order to uncover how the simulation of “foreign” and “alien” identities is increasingly based on the media coverage of these population groups. The analysis critically considers how the resulting role-play reproduces self-perpetuating stereotypes that pre-shape the soldiers’ perception of populations. Lastly, the thesis explores how artificial media cycles are generated as part of the combat training to prepare soldiers’ self-representation and communication skills under unpredictable, straining circumstances and to effectively communicate the army’s message to the world. This section especially focuses on the growing military “weaponisation” of the media, which has now begun to market the military training itself as an entertainment attraction to worldwide audiences – thus closing the circle between entertainment and military practices and subsuming the population in the war preparation. With entertainment and marketing imagery, technologies and concepts now at the core of military preparation, stereotypes of population groups and urban spaces and a “de-realization”, “gamification” and “sanitisation” of warfare are increasingly carried over into real conflicts, thus affecting critical decisions as a result of entertainment-based conditioning. Furthermore, to ensure public support, the general population is turned into an indispensable part of military training through participatory video games, social media and training centre visits and consequently becomes increasingly complicit in the merging of entertainment and military practices and subject to the same remediated preconceptions.

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This dissertation approaches both being and knowledge as functionally no different than storytelling, with stories themselves given life by the various theoretical and narrative frameworks and strategies through which they are shaped and made credible. Storytelling is the foundational methodology of this work, and the work itself takes imagination as central to complicating and disrupting the normative terms (i.e., the stories) of both being and knowledge. Its particular agenda is in making space for imagining futures without both war and the figure of the human, especially the human as Man, as a way through the interminable conflict characteristic of the contemporary historical moment. Situated in the field of human-animal studies, the analysis takes up military working dogs, which I argue are made to sustain the disimagination processes inherent to militarization. The innate dehumanization of war requires narratives that recover the human, and dogs, as companion species and creatures of the home, are especially well positioned for this task. Drawing on Black feminist thought, and anti-colonial insights from Indigenous thinkers, this work also shows how such dogs are used strategically within assemblages of whiteness to reify certain forms of sovereignty at the expense of both racialized people and dogs. Finally, I argue that imagining futures without conflict and war requires asking seemingly unimaginable questions, such as why sacrificing dogs in combat seems an unassailable truth given the alternatives. By asking such questions, I seek to engage a kind of radical imagination unconstrained by the limits of Man as the locus of ethics, especially during times of conflict, and to bring about an appreciation of dogs, whether in combat or otherwise, as beings for whom our responsibility to, and ethical relation with, runs far deeper than most humans willingly acknowledge. / Dissertation / Candidate in Philosophy / This project looks at weaponized and military working dogs within the context of war and conflict to examine the stories we tell about them, and what these stories do. I ask, how do these stories work and who are they for? To answer these questions, I traverse an expansive archive that includes, among other things, popular media representations, military memoir, mainstream journalism, and documentary film. I am especially interested in the ways stories about dogs inform how we understand war, militarization, and race, and how they impact the operation of power and sovereignty. I argue that dogs have been used to teach us who is and isn’t human, but that our obligation and responsibility to the gift that dogs bring is to undo the oppressive story of Man, which institutes untold amounts of suffering and oppression across species, and to tell new stories in its place.

This thesis examines the portrayal of men and boys within the women, peace and security agenda, and in particular the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) security discourse on this theme. The relationship between the portrayal of victims and perpetrators, and the portrayal of men and boys are analysed and discussed based on the three-dimensional framework for Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough. Through the theoretical framework of Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink on norm theory, this thesis furthers the understanding of the evolution of how men and boys are portrayed within the women, peace and security agenda. The results of this thesis are that the portrayal of victims often does not correspond with the portrayal of men and boys, while the portrayal of perpetrators often does correspond to the portrayal of men and boys. The study also shows that the portrayal of men and boys as the perpetrators as well as leaders in society has reached the third stage of the norm cycle by Finnemore and Sikkink; internalisation, and that the portrayal of men and boys as victims as partners to the female leaders in society has reached only reached the first stage of the norm cycle: norm emergence.

This is a sociological study of the views of officers in the Swedish Army and its Amphibious Forces on tactics in Irregular Warfare (IW), in particular, Counterinsurgency (COIN). IW comprises struggles, where the military weaker part uses an indirect approach with smaller units and integrates the civilian and military dimensions in a violence spectrum including subversion, terrorism, Guerrilla Warfare and infantry actions. IW is the main armed warfare style in insurgencies. COIN is the combined political, military, economic, social and legal actions in counter insurgencies. Data has been collected by means of interviews with almost all (n =43) officers, who were either commanding battalions or rifle and manoeuvre companies while undergoing training for general warfare and international operations. The main theoretical and methodological inspiration is the traditional one for research on social fields, inaugurated by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The statistical technique used is Multiple Correspondence Analysis. As a background and context base, an inquiry inspired by the Begriffsgechichte (Conceptual History) tradition explores the genesis and development of understandings of the term Irregular Warfare. The research question is outlined as; “how can contemporary Swedish military thought on tactics in Irregular Warfare be characterized using descriptive patterns, mapped in relation to background factors and normative standards? The most significant findings are that there are two main opposing notions separating the officers’ views on tactics in Irregular Warfare: (1) a focus on larger, combat oriented and collectively operating military units versus smaller and larger, more intelligence oriented and dispersed operating units, and (2) a focus on military tasks and kinetic effects versus military and civilian tasks as well as “soft” effects. The distribution of these views can be presented as a two-dimensional space structured by the two axes. This space represents four categories of tactics, partly diverging from normative military standards for Counterinsurgency. This social space of standpoints shows different structural tendencies for background factors of social and cultural character, particularly dominant concerning military backgrounds, international mission experiences and civilian education. Compared to military standards for Counterinsurgency, the two tactical types characterized by a Regular Warfare mind-set stands out as counter-normative. Signs of creative thought on military practice and theory, as well as a still persistent Regular Warfare doxa are apparent. Power struggles might thus develop, effecting the transformation to a broadened warfare culture with an enhanced focus also on Irregular Warfare. The result does not support research results arguing for a convergence of military thought in the European transformation of Armed Forces. The main argument goes beyond tactics and suggests sociological analysis on reciprocal effects regarding strategy, operational art, tactics as well as leadership, concerning the mind-set and preferences for Regular, Irregular and Hybrid Warfare.

This study aims to compare British war poetry of the First World War with Iraqi poetry from the mid-20th century with special reference to Iraqi war poetry of the 1980’s Iraq-Iran War and the period that followed it. It will also investigate the influence of the designated British war poetry on the chosen body of Iraqi poetry. Through the comparison of sample poems the study presents, firstly, the direct influence of the British poetry of the Great War and its translation which formed the seeds of a more radical movement in Iraqi poetry during the 1980’s Iran/Iraq War and the period that followed it. The study also presents a comparison of the works of British and Iraqi civilian poets during and after the war time and their contribution in setting the ground for the younger generation to create more subversive poetic forms with special reference to women as influential characters and inspirations in their works. The moment of the 1980’s war marks the break with the clear direct influence of British war poetry and starts another phase of the comparison of a universal bond of similar reactions, conscious and unconscious expression reflecting the lives of the combatant group of men first and then of poets sharing a devastating war reality. The study reveals a remarkable, more radical change of poetic forms in Iraqi poetry between the time of the first seeds planted by the influence of translations from European poetry until the time of the Iran/Iraq war and the Gulf War in 1991 and the rise of the new nihilistic generation of the 1990s subverting war, politics and cultural life through their innovation in prose poem writing and its significance as an alternative space for their political and social subversion.

During and after the Spanish Civil War, over 500,000 people left Spain; at least 200,000 would remain outside Spain for many years, some for the rest of their lives. They went to France, Mexico, Argentina, the USSR, and across the globe. These Spanish ‘republican’ refugees were also connected to those who had stayed within Spain, by familial and political ties or the bonds of friendship. In order to investigate this reality – a group of people from all kinds of political, social and economic backgrounds based in so many different geographic locations – this thesis foregrounds the role of the individual in both experiencing and constructing history, being defined and resisting definition from different entities. Consequently, it seeks to intervene in the historiography of the Spanish Civil War and republican exile by highlighting the ways in which individual experiences and narratives both strengthen and weaken categories such as: political, a-political, refugee and exile. This PhD brings together underused source materials stored in Spain and Mexico, as well as digital archives stored online; it is based on archived oral history interviews with refugees, additional oral history interviews undertaken by the author, several collections of letters, unpublished and published memoirs, and official documents. Each chapter considers a different aspect of the refugees’ experiences and how these experiences are represented in the source material: departure, separation and communication, return and home, and the memory of exile within families. How and why did people leave? How did they change their behaviour in order to adapt to or survive particular circumstances? How have the children and grandchildren of Spanish refugees reacted to family narratives and memories? Central to this analysis is the role played by factors such as gender, age, class, status, personality and political views in shaping peoples’ experiences, as well as an emphasis on ‘non-elite’ alongside ‘elite’ refugees’ experiences of displacement. The historiography of the Spanish Civil War and subsequent exile has been shaped by political and ideological debates, as well as the different national contexts refugees found themselves in. From the numbers of refugees recorded as having left Spain, to the idea that returning to Spain was a betrayal, to the memory of the exile within Spain, almost every aspect of the refugees’ experiences has been used to make or refute arguments surrounding the morality of the republican cause and the nature of the Francoist regime. At the same time, the different circumstances of refugees living in countries like France and Mexico meant that different narratives or collective memories regarding the role of refugees in their host countries are still being constructed and reconstructed. One of the central aims of this thesis is to show how these debates have obscured the richness of individual experiences; the thesis therefore argues that considering stories which do not “fit” or details which are difficult to synthesise ultimately leads us to a more profound understanding of history. Driven by an extensive use of a range of oral history interviews, the thesis will also explore how historical time is complicated by personal testimony. The events of one person’s life are carried into the present, as they continue to affect their character, state of mind and attitude to success and hardship. Personal memories and perspectives will provide a contrast to historical narratives which focus on the role of the state, military events, ideology or political parties; instead, the thesis will show how these entities and events affect people’s lives, and the lives of their children. The central argument of this thesis is that Spanish refugees were not ‘preordained’ by the ideological conflicts which were embedded in the Civil War or their displacement. Instead, refugees actively constructed their ‘self-hood’ in response to these circumstances, rather than being (wholly) defined by them.

Similar countries are often expected to respond to threats in similar ways. Nevertheless, in Europe alone, similar countries have responded significantly different to the threat of terrorism. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how strategic culture, based on five elements (dominant threat perception; core tasks of the armed forces; willingness to use force; civil-military relation, and public opinion) have influenced the role of the armed forces in domestic counterterrorism in Belgium and Sweden. Albeit previous research has addressed the role of the armed forces in domestic security and counterterrorism, it has not empirically conducted a systematic comparison of two countries with differing roles. Moreover, the theoretical explanations have been insufficient in explaining why some countries use their armed forces whilst others do not. Thus, by employing a comparative case study, utilizing a qualitative content analysis aimed at analysing strategic and defence documents, articles, and previous research, I sought to investigate how strategic culture have influenced the role of the armed forces in domestic counterterrorism between 2014-2020, something that has been largely neglected in previous research. The findings demonstrated differences in all five elements, indicating that strategic culture likely influence the role of the armed forces in Sweden and Belgium.

This essay analyses how students translate theoretical warfare into practical action during a staff ride. Through case studies, at the actual location, in a real or fictitious scenario, students can apply theoretical knowledge about principles of warfare to practical situations. Discussion of the outcomes of different examples on the actual terrain allows a comparison of contemporary tactics and contemporary technology. The terrain is still there, albeit perhaps altered and, although the military geography’s character shifts, it is consistent. Therefore, one can compare the contemporary tactical and technical conditions with the practical conditions of the present, and draw conclusions that are relevant to modern tactics. Thus, one can learn from the historical context through staff rides as a teaching method. The essay is about the teaching situation and the method that students are exposed to during a staff ride, and how theories of warfare relate to and are used in the practical implementation of a staff ride.

In this paper I try to inquire into what I find to be similarities between the field of Critical War Studies and the thought of Suzuki Daisetz Taitaro. These two would seem to be near opposites, the former is an academic field of research, the latter a Zen Buddhist thinker. Yet while separated by time, location, and genealogy, they connect in the similarity of the phenomena they research. Through a hermeneutic study of Suzukis thought during the Japanese Empire and contrasting and comparing it to the thought of several social scientists of Critical War Studies, I find an increasing similarity between the Baudrillardian and Suzukian conception of war and fighting as a loss of the subject. From this I posit that even in completely different contexts, the study of the same phenomena may produce very similar theories – something that may impact the how we think of faith versus science.