The Swedish Reserve Officer: Filling Vacancies or Using Competences

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.

Section: Problems and Puzzlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Gazit

Lomsky‐Feder

Ari³

2020

“…Yet reservists often serve as a bridge between the civilian and the military worlds contributing to the assimilation of the military into society (Danielsson & Carlstedt, 2011). The "permeable boundaries" between military and society in Israel (Horowitz & Lissak, 1989;Luckham, 1971) are very evident in regard to the reserve forces because reservists cross the boundaries from time to time and ideally the mutual commitment between reservists and the military remains even between periods of duty.…”

Section: Reservists: Duality and Military Autonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Israel Reserve Law: The Duality of Reservists and Transformed Military Autonomy

Rein-Sapir

Ben‐Ari²

2020

Enacted in 2008, 60 years after Israel Defense Forces was established, the Israeli Reserves Law is a striking expression of the decline of military autonomy in a democratic country. While not aimed at reducing the military’s discretion in regard to the training, deployment, and compensation for reservists, the formal enactment of the Law in effect did so. The legislative process was preceded by a crisis between reservists and the military and was led by several reservists’ organizations who tried to improve the standing and resources allocated to the reserve forces. The article analyzes the impact of these organizations and the coalitions they created with politicians serving in the national parliament, the Knesset. By choosing the legislative option to improve the conditions of service for reservists, they de facto reduced military autonomy since the new Law mandated supervision and monitoring (by civilian institutions) of the service of reservists and extended into the core area of military action, the operational use of force. Thus, the actions of reservists’ organizations turned a bilateral tie between the military and its (reserve) soldiers into a trilateral one, comprising the military, reserve soldiers, and state institutions.

“…The maintenance of a strong workplace boundary and a rejection of civilian experience may help explain seemingly fratricidal organizational behavior regarding reservists reported by other armed forces beyond the UK, for example, the rejection of U.S. Navy Reservists for promotion for not having enough "U.S. Navy" service time but who had previously worked as full-time civilian contractors in the same jobs and on the same type ships as U.S. Navy Regular sailors (Golfin & Grefer, 2006). In Sweden, despite being recruited for civilian experience, over 400 reservist officers in Sweden reported that their wide-ranging civilian experience was never asked for by the armed forces (Danielsson & Carlstedt, 2011). Strongly bounded workplace identity may also explain resistance to change that involves recognition of civilian experience, such as lateral entry to the full-time military (Crosbie & Kleykamp, 2018).…”

Section: Workplace Boundaries and The Perception Of Relevant Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

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

Connelly

2020

Recent changes in the British Army mean part-time reservists and full-time regulars need to become better integrated. However, there has been a long history of workplace tensions between the full-time and part-time elements in the British Army. This mirrors those found in many civilian workplaces. Focus group data with 105 full-time regular British Army soldiers confirmed that time and emotional commitment are strongly linked in a full-time professional workplace that has strong, definite, and enduring boundaries. This, alongside demands for conformity and stratification by rank explained the high risk of marginalization of part-time reservists. The legitimacy of part-time reservists, especially in the combat arms, was often challenged. Using this explanatory framework, some implications and practical ways that tensions may be reduced between full-time and part-time members of the British Army, and other armed forces facing similar tensions, were highlighted.