Military Covenants and Contracts in Motion: Reservists as Transmigrants 10 Years Later

Abstract

This article reexamines and develops the analytical metaphor of “Reserve Soldiers as Transmigrants” in three directions. First, we advance the notion of transmigration by linking it to the explicit and implicit “contracts” or agreements struck between the military and individuals and groups within and outside of it. Second, we show that the “management” model of reserve forces is not just an administrative matter but that “negotiating” with reservists involves wider issues that include managing identity, commitment, and the meaning attached to military service. Third, we examine the institutional and political meaning of the reserves at the macro sociological level. The juxtaposition and interplay of two models—transmigration and multiple contracts—allows us to introduce structural elements into the movement of soldiers between the military and civilian society, and add a dynamic dimension to the contents of the implicit contracts that organize reservists’ relations with the state and military.

Understanding and Explaining the Marginalization of Part-Time British Army Reservists

“…These smaller armies have been accommodated through the acceptance of a discourse that all personnel are now required to be more "professional" and this, it has been argued, has led to a stronger occupational military identity, more selfregulation, and a firmer occupational control of military work (Evetts, 2003). This claimed change in professional identity and the perceived contract between the individual, state, and the full-time regular soldier goes beyond a simple vernacular labeling of all soldiers as "professional" and has implications for those parts of the army that are not regular-chief among these being part-time reservists-where differences may now be amplified (Edmunds et al, 2016;Gazit et al, 2018;Soeters, 2018).…”

“…This underlines a major challenge of the Whole Force concept; the mere existence of diverse labor types can reinforce and institutionalize separateness among employees and lead to difficulties in successful integration (Goldenberg et al, 2016;Heinecken, 2009;Kelty & Bierman, 2013). Individualized reservists, who have a "transmigrant" identity, moving between civilian and military identities, may be seen to breach the implicit contracts between the individual, military, and state and threaten the group norms held by regular soldiers (Gazit et al, 2018;Jenkings et al, 2018). The British Army, like many Western armies, has found it difficult to accommodate diversity and difference into the uniformed workplace regarding women and minorities (Dandeker, 2015;King, 2013).…”

Meaning in military service among reservists: Measuring the effect of prosocial motivation in a moderated-mediation model

“…Reservists also need to maintain a link with their unit and their civilian habitus in order to be able to perform their reserve service successfully ( Laanepere and Kasearu, 2021 ). This citizen role is an important element in military service by reservists, for these citizen-soldiers are constant transmigrants between their civilian and military life ( Lomsky-Feder et al, 2007 ; Gazit et al, 2021 ). In the course of their duties in the army, reservists have to identify themselves with dissimilar roles than in civilian life, which can affect how one perceives meaning in military service.…”

Introduction to the Armed Forces & Society Forum on Military Reserves in the “New Wars”

“…These insights have led Gazit et al (2020) to the development of additional analytical framework of military reserves that complements the one of transmigration. This framework focuses on the multiple, formal and informal, arrangements and agreements that regulate the relationships between reservists and the military.…”

“…The opening article by Gazit et al (2020) reexamines and further develops the analytical metaphor of "Reserve Soldiers as Transmigrants" by adding the conceptualization of "multiple contracts." The authors review the literature that has used this metaphor to make sense of various facets of military reserves since the publication of their original article in 2008.…”