Conscription of white males to the South African Defence Force between 1969 and 1994 was one of the measures used by the South African government to uphold apartheid and white supremacy. While it appeared that the majority of white males and their families supported the National Party propagated ideologies of the country at the time and felt it was their duty to render military service, there were some for whom this duty provided a conflict of conscience. Giving expression to this conflict and finding constructive ways of dealing with it was almost impossible within the highly restrictive, repressive political, legal and social climate of that time. Limited options seemed available to the young men who had objections to serving in the military, namely exile, evasion or deferment: personal choices that drove people into physical and emotional isolation, and which did not engage the state in the resolution of this conflict. Some young men, however, chose to confront the state and object openly. This began a protracted series of negotiations with ruling authorities, debates within state structures, legislative changes and prosecutions that attempted to prevent and quash the presence of objectors. In the face of this oppression, family and friends formed themselves into solidarity groups around individual objectors to support them in handling the consequences of their objection and in making their stance known and heeded by the government. And so began a movement for change, which over the years learned the skills of nonviolent direct action and constructively challenged the state on issues of conscription and the militarisation of society. This initiative, known as the Conscientious Objector Support Group, although small in scale, ranks as one of the anti-apartheid movements that contributed to South Africa’s peaceful transition to democracy. As such it has invaluable lessons to share with movements for change throughout the world that are presently grappling with situations of human rights’ violations. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This thesis evaluates the effects of compulsory military service in South Korea on the political behavior of men from a public policy standpoint. I take an institutional point of view on conscription, in that conscription forces the military to accept individuals with minimal screening. Given the distinct set of values embodied by the military, I hypothesize that the military would need a powerful, comprehensive, and fast program of indoctrination to re-socialize civilians into military uniform, trustable enough to be entrusted with a gun or a confidential document. Based on the existence of such a program and related academic literature, I go on to look at how a military attitude has political implications, especially for the security-environment of the Korean peninsula. Given the ideological nature of the inter-Korean conflict, the South Korean military was biased against the liberals, as liberals were most likely to generate policies supporting conciliatory and cooperative measures towards North Korea, like the removal of U.S. forces from South Korea and the repeal of the National Security Laws that outlaw discussion of communism. For an empirical evaluation, I pose the hypothesis that this political bias would manifest itself in the male public via the military’s indoctrinative program. With data from the Korean General Social Survey, the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, and the South Korean General Election Panel Study, I have found that males respond acutely to specific security issues in favor or against according to the military’s point of view. However, the evidence for an overall bias on political parties generally was inconclusive. The uncertainty was mainly rooted in the fact that liberal parties have strategically avoided speaking out on specific policy issues during election.

Reklamfilmen “Fler borde göra donken” publicerades 2017 som en del i McDonalds reklamkampanj “Gör donken”. Den uppstår i svallvågorna av att allmän värnplikt återinförs i Sverige och flyktingkrisen 2015. Myten om hjältesoldaten identifieras som en central aspekt i reklamfilmen och syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur myten kring hjältesoldaten framställs samt diskutera hur reklamfilmen relaterar till övergripande kontext och rådande ideologier. Analysen utförs med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys som möjliggör för djupgående reflektioner. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk inkluderar semiotik med fem valda teoribegrepp samt stort fokus på myter. Vidare används David Machins teori som behandlar sociala aktörers framställning. Slutligen inkluderas retoriken med sex valda teoribegrepp. Resultatet från analysen visar på att myten kring hjältesoldaten existerar och verkar inom reklamfilmen genom visuella, auditiva och språkliga tecken samt de sociala aktörerna. Myten byggs upp genom kopplingar till ett flertal karakteristiska teman som hämtas från hjältesoldatens framställning. Vidare tyder analysen på att myten är förankrad i den övergripande framtoningen som McDonalds framställer. Det finns även en förankring till den omkringliggande samhälleliga kontexten där återinförandet av värnplikten i Sverige och flyktingkrisen 2015 är de centrala kopplingarna. Dock återfinns även en brytning med myten samt med rådande ideologi i samhället. Avslutningsvis brukar reklamfilmen de positiva konnotationerna tillhörande myten kring hjältesoldaten, medan de negativa konnotationerna förblir dolda. Detta kräver att konsumenter anammar ett kritiskt synsätt för att tydliggöra dem och således kunna ta ställningen till reklamfilmens fulla innebörd. / The advertisement “Fler borde göra donken” was published in 2017 as part of the McDonald’s campaign “Gör donken”. The campaign surfaces in the aftermath of the reintroduction of military draft in Sweden and the refugee crisis in 2015. The myth concerning the hero soldier is identified as a central aspect in the advertisement and the purpose of this study is to analyze how the myth concerning the hero soldier is portrayed as well as what possible implications can arise from it. The analysis is conducted with a qualitative content analysis which enables deeper reflection. The study’s theoretical framework includes semiotics with five chosen theoretical concepts and focus on myths. David Machin’s theory concerning social actors and their portrayal is also used in the theoretical framework. Finally, rhetoric is included in the framework with six chosen theoretical concepts. The result from the analysis reveals that the myth concerning the hero soldier exists within the advertisement through both visual, auditive and linguistic signs as well as the social actors. The myth is created through connections to several characteristic themes which are found in the general portrayal of the hero soldier. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that the myth is anchored in the general image portrayed by McDonalds. There is also rootedness to the surrounding societal context where the reintroduction of military drafting and the refugee crisis of 2015 are the central connections. On the other hand, there is also a disconnect with the myth as well with an ideology in the society. Finally, the advertisement utilizes the positive connotations belonging to the myth concerning the hero soldier while the negative connotations remain hidden. This requires that consumers adopt a critical way of thinking to elucidate the hidden connotations to be aware of all aspects of the advertisement.

In 1955, barely ten years after the end of the most devastating war in Modern German history, a new German military was established in the Federal Republic, the Bundeswehr. In order properly fill the ranks of this new military the government, under the leadership of Konrad Adenauer, believed that it would have to draft men from the West German population into military service. For the government in Bonn conscription was a double-edged sword, it would not only ensure that the Bundeswehr would receive the required number of recruits but it was also believed that conscription would guarantee that the Bundeswehr would be more democratic and therefore in tune with the policies of the new West German state. What this study seeks to explore is what the West German population thought of conscription. It will investigate who was for or against the draft and seek to determine the various socioeconomic factors that contributed to these decisions. Furthermore this study will examine the effect that the public opinion had on federal policy.

Det här arbetet har undersökt hur övergången till ett värnpliktssystem påverkar det organisatoriska lärandet. Syfte har varit att undersöka om den värnpliktiges erfarenheter, främst vad gäller tekniska system, omhändertas i övergången till ett värnpliktssystem. Teorin som använts till det här arbetet är en modell som beskriver hur individens kunskap blir till organisatorisk kunskap och bygger på fem olika lärcykler framtagen av Sanchez. Metoden har varit att använda befintlig forskning inom området organisatoriskt lärande och ta fram faktorer som bör finnas med i en ideal process för att omhänderta värnpliktigas erfarenheter. Den ideala processen har sedan jämförts med hur processen för att omhänderta den värnpliktiges erfarenheter ser ut i Försvarsmakten. Resultatet av det här arbetet är att en övergång till ett värnpliktssystem bedöms ha en liten påverkan om den metod som Försvarsmakten har för att omhänderta erfarenheter används. De faktorer som bör finnas med för att omhänderta värnpliktigas erfarenheter finns med i metoden samt att Försvarsmakten som en hierarkisk organisation minskar effekten av den personalomsättning ett värnpliktssystem innebär. I vilken omfattning Försvarsmaktens metod de facto används under de värnpliktigas utbildning har däremot inte undersökts och lämnas som förslag till vidare forskning. / This thesis has researched how a transition to a conscript system will impact on the organisationallearning. The purpose was to examine if the conscript soldiers experience, primarily on theexperience regarding technical systems, is taken care of by the organisation. The theory that wasused was The Five Learning Cycles of the Organizational Learning developed by Sanchez. Themethod was to use previous research on organisational learning and use it to develop an idealprocess for organisational learning for conscript soldiers. This ideal process was later used toanalyse the process in the Swedish Armed Forces. The result of this thesis is that a transition to aconscript system will have a small impact if the existing method in the Swedish Armed Forces isused. The factors that should be in the process is in large found, and the fact that it is a hierarchicorganisation will reduce the effect of personnel turnover with a conscript system. In what extentthe Swedish Armed Forces is using its method in the training of the conscripts hasn´t beenresearched and is a suggestion to future research.

Conscription in the legal system of the Czech Republic The main goal of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive take on a conscription legislation in the Czech legal system. With this in mind the beginning of the thesis includes a definition of conscription as well as the differences between conscripted army and a professional army since both these systems currently are or have been present in Czech armed forces. To better understand the different types of conscription used throughout the history, the thesis also contains a chapter encompassing a basic development of Czech (Czechoslovak) foreign policy and defence strategy since the birth of an independent Czechoslovakia up to this day, focusing its impact on the concrete type of conscription used in the particular period. Then, a comprehensive third chapter about a historical development of different types of providing defence to the area of the contemporary Czech Republic is included. Each subchapter is dedicated to a certain historical period since the early system of princely retinues during the 10th century up till the 21st century and a fully professional army. The main part of the thesis consists of chapters four to seven which describes individual aspects of current conscription legislation such as organization of Czech armed forces,...

Since the Swedish government reinstated conscription in 2017, the Swedish Armed Forces are once again able to meet the wartime staffing requirements. In addition to the increase in employees the Swedish Armed Forces have been able to shift focus from external recruiting to internal human resource management. High employee turnover is a costly affair, especially in an organization like this one, where the initial investments, by way of training, are expensive and arduous. Predicting which employees are about to resign can help retain employees and decrease turnover and in turn save resources. With sufficient data, machine learning can be used to predict which employees are about to resign. This study shows that the machine learning model, random forest, can increase accuracy and precision of predictions, and points to variables and behavioral indicators that have been found to have a strong correlation to employee resignation. / Detta arbete utforskar möjligheten att använda maskininlärning, mer specifikt modellen random forest, för att förutspå uppsägning av anställda i Försvarsmakten. Arbetet stammar ur återinförandet av värnplikten i 2017, som följd av att enbart ca. 60% av bemanningskravet i krigstid med den frivilliga modellen kunde mötas. Arbetet finner att maskininlärningsmodellen random forest, kan användas för att förutspå uppsägningar till en icke-trivial grad. Random forestmodellen kan användas till att förutspå uppsägningar till 89% noggrannhet och 72% precision. Den största källan till osäkerhet i studien är mängden och egenskaperna hos datan. Studien är baserad på data från 1500 heltidsanställda gruppchefer, soldater och sjömän (GSS-K). För att förbättra resultatet och i synnerhet precisionen behövs mer data och data med en starkare korrelation till beteende. För framtida studier rekommenderas att utforska huruvida andra maskininlärningsmodeller är lämpade för just denna verksamhet, men även hur arbete, insamling och förvaltning av data inom Försvarsmakten kan utvecklas.

Many historians have conducted oral history interviews with Vietnam War veterans in an attempt to offer a more personal perspective to the study of the Vietnam War; however, most historians do not consciously differentiate between drafted and volunteer veterans. Identifying whether a veteran was drafted into service or volunteered is critical because the extent to which this service was voluntary or coerced may affect the way a veteran remembers his military service. By conducting oral histories, one can consciously delineate service members who volunteered as opposed to those who were drafted to determine if the veterans‟ experiences change based on the nature of their entry into the military. Additionally, examining the implementation of a national draft and its effects on service members‟ experiences will offer a better understanding of American military history. While much of the attention of scholars has been on drafted soldiers in Vietnam, little research has been conducted on the experience of the volunteer soldier. This study relies on oral history interviews conducted with volunteer and drafted service members of the Vietnam War to determine if there were differences between draftees and volunteers based on their entrance into the military. The research and oral history interviews with the two veteran groups establishes that the dissent detailed by draft protesters was not always the case and service members, volunteers and draftees alike, more often than not accepted their military service. The interviewed veterans‟ responses suggest that resistance to military service during the Vietnam War may not have been as great as one might think given the attention that has been placed on the anti-draft movement.

In the United States, rapid military mobilization for the world wars marked a turning point in the national need to manage and evaluate manpower. To orchestrate manpower needs for the military, industry, and those relating to familial obligations, Woodrow Wilson's administration created the Selective Service System during the First World War. In categorizing men, local Selective Service boards utilized rapid physical and psychological diagnostic techniques and applied their assessments to current military branch induction standards to pronounce candidates as militarily fit or unfit. From World War I to World War II, the Selective Service System expanded as a bureaucracy but did not adequately address induction issues surrounding rapidly changing standards, racism, and inconsistent testing procedures. These persistent problems with Selective Service prevented the system from becoming truly consistent, fair, or effective. As a result of Selective Service System, War Department, and military branch standards, military rejection and prematurely military discharge rates increased in World War II. Additionally, though Selective Service did not accurately predict who would or would not serve effectively, rejected and prematurely discharged men faced harsh discrimination on the American home front during World War II.

This dissertation concerns the legacy of the Nazi forced enlistment during World War II and focuses more precisely on the case of Alsace/Moselle. Many of these French men, enlisted by force from 1942 in the German army, were sent to the Eastern Front and experienced Soviet prison camps. The aim of this thesis is to examine how knowledge and memories about forced enlistment and Soviet captivity have been remembered, commemorated, communicated and passed on since the Alsatian/Mosellan POWs (Prisoners of War) carried the tokens of enemies or traitors when reintegrating their motherland, France. Four strategies dealing with the experiences of forced enlistment and of internment in Soviet prison camps are examined. I present how the first and most common strategy, i.e. avoidance, is contributing to an individual and collective construction of silence. Then I argue that a second strategy, the constitution of families of remembrance, is helping them to articulate and narrate their experiences (third strategy). The fourth strategy is the organisation of pilgrimages (emic term) to the former prison camp of Tambov, where the majority of the Alsatian/Mosellan POWs were gathered during the war. This last strategy actualises the issue of the transmission of the war experiences given that pilgrimages bring together three to four generations. Through fieldwork observations of the journeys I show how the pilgrims engage with a sense of the past. They remember and reassess the meaning of the past in terms of the social, cultural and political needs of the present. The importance of place and the aspect of self-in-place are thoughtfully analysed in order to highlight the process of passing on the memory of Tambov. I conclude by arguing that the agents of remembrance interviewed for the purpose of this thesis are engaged in turning the tangible and intangible legacies of World War II into heritage. This is done by releasing the legacy of forced enlistment and internment in Soviet prison camp from the private/familial sphere and inscribing it in the public sphere. Yet, the agency of the former POWs and their descendants shows how to let pass a past “that does not want to pass” in a contemporary European context.