Postmodern or Conservative? Competing Security Communities over Military Doctrine: Israeli National-Religious Soldiers as Counter [Strategic] Culture Agents

Lebel, Udi

doi:10.4324/9781315126579-2

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…For religious actors, losing this struggle over meaning and the possession of symbolic capital risks their status within the military. Hence, this struggle is accompanied by rhetoric (for the U.S. and Israeli forces, see, respectively, Anonymous, 2011; Lebel, 2013). The drivers are mutually reinforcing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve that aim, the military command also took steps to increase religious diversity by promoting the enforcement of dietary laws and Sabbath observance for all soldiers (Levy, 2014; Driver #2). Thus, as in the American case, while the Israeli military was mirroring the process of liberalization and secularization in Israeli society (reflected, e.g., in allowing unrestricted service by homosexuals), it was also aligning with religious groups seeking to establish a stronghold in the armed forces (see Lebel, 2013). Extra-military processes inversely affected intramilitary dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…As they become more visible in combat units, religious groups convert religiosity into symbolic capital. They portray themselves as a new elite, a vanguard at the service of Jewish national missions, in contrast to the perceived weaker, older, secular, liberal, elite (Lebel, 2013). Religiosity has thus become the marker of the new hierarchy, replacing former markers such as ethnicity and class (Driver #6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Levy

2018

Armed Forces & Society

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This article addresses scholarly deficiencies in identifying the conditions under which the desecularization of militaries takes place. To theorize this process, two militaries are studied, the United States and Israel. Arguably, six drivers sequentially generate the desecularization of the militaries: (1) Militaries largely mirror the growing influence of religion in the broader society. However, intramilitary drivers play their role in promoting/mitigating the extra-military mechanisms of desecularization. Thus, (2) organizational interests along with external constraints drive militaries to promote religious diversity, which may (3) lead to the empowerment of religious actors, and thereby to further desecularization through religious intolerance, and to (4) reliance on the spiritual and religious services provided by military chaplains, and jointly stimulate (5) the use of religion to motivate military sacrifice. By religiously increasing the symbolic value of military sacrifice, (6) religiosity becomes more naturally associated with good soldiering, thereby reshaping intramilitary hierarchies and, hence, further triggering desecularization.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Levy

2018

Armed Forces & Society

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“…Interestingly, there are abundant studies about religious soldiers and special arrangements for their service in the altogether secular IDF (''Hesder''; Cohen, 1997;Lebel, 2013) but not on religion motivation in actual fighting. Indeed, one element that was explored in the past in relation to combat motivation among IDF soldiers was the sense of Israeli Zionist patriotism.…”

Section: Combat Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping Styles and Combat Motivation During Operations

Ben-Shalom

Benbenisty

2016

Armed Forces & Society

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The characteristic challenges of combat lead military personnel to develop adaptive coping styles that are different from coping styles used in routine life. This contention is explored using data collected from Israel Defense Forces conscript and reserve soldiers during intense military operations. The results of this study support this claim, in particular concerning faith. Coping styles were also correlated with combat motivations and measures of positive and negative emotions. It seems that a well-adapted soldier may use unique coping styles that, although perhaps not understood by outsiders, can contribute to his capacity to carry out his undertakings. A better understanding of such a state of mind should prove valuable for military leaders and religious experts.

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“…Such analyses often raise the prospect that this may generate tension and division in the ranks and constrain the ability of the military to implement controversial policies, especially with respect to the evacuation of Israeli settlements (S. Levy, 2014). It has also been argued that national-religious soldiers are more willing to use violence against Palestinians, and have fewer qualms about hurting civilians (Lebel, 2013).…”

Section: The Ethics Of Israeli Militarismmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Meaningful service’: Pedagogy at Israeli pre-military academies and the ethics of militarism

Eastwood

2016

European Journal of International Relations

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How can ethics be a militarist practice? This article offers an answer to this question using a study of teaching at Israeli pre-military academies for high-school graduates. It argues that when ethics operates as a practice of subject formation, it is quite possible for it to reinforce the militarist process whereby citizens are turned into soldiers. Based on interviews with teaching staff and participant observation at these academies, this article offers an in-depth analysis of their pedagogy that highlights their increasingly prominent contribution to Israeli militarism. Israeli pre-military academies combine ethics with a programme of military preparation such that military service is presented as an opportunity for individual flourishing and participation in war is imbued with an ideology of ethical soldiering. Given the significance of Israel/Palestine as a theatre of violent conflict, this article argues that this case has wider significance for our understanding of the nature of militarism and of the relationship between ethics and war. It suggests that ethics has become increasingly bound up with militarism, and that there are therefore clear limits to its capacity to constrain the violence of war.

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Postmodern or Conservative? Competing Security Communities over Military Doctrine: Israeli National-Religious Soldiers as Counter [Strategic] Culture Agents

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Theorizing Desecularization of the Military: The United States and Israel

Coping Styles and Combat Motivation During Operations

‘Meaningful service’: Pedagogy at Israeli pre-military academies and the ethics of militarism

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