Military Education Working Group Papers

International Sociological Association RC01, 2018

Research Committee 1 (RC01) on armed forces and conflict resolution offered several panels relevant to military education at the July 2018 conference in Toronto, Canada.

The research committee also met and discussed professional military education at the Canadian Forces College. The first paper was circulated in advance, and the second reports on the events of the conference:

Last, D. (2018) Introducing a Discussion of Professional Military Education. Notes for a Roundtable at the Canadian Forces College with members of ISA Research Committee 01.

Last, D. (2018) Academic Support for PME: Notes from RC01 International Sociological Association. Toronto, ISA, 13-20 July 2018. Research Committee 1 (RC01) of the International Sociological Association addresses issues of armed forces and conflict resolution. This paper includes a summary of the papers presented at the July 2018 Conference in Toronto, and some of the issues addressed in a special meeting of researchers invited to the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

The following papers and presentations were made available at the conference. The numbers in the following entries refer to the numbers from the ISA-2018 program. You can find the full abstract in the paper above, or in the ISA conference programme.

ANTON (45.7) Mihail, National Defense University, Romania and Eliza ANTON, Ministry of National Defence, Romania Conflict and Cyberspace: Challenges for Military Higher Education Institutions.

BEN-ARI, Eyal (34.1), Kinneret Academic College, Kinneret Center, Israel. Between Academic Ornament, External Expert and Suspect Ally: Lessons from Research on the Israeli Military.

BRAENDER, Morten, (39.3 ) Aarhus University, Denmark and Vilhelm HOLSTING, Royal Danish Defence College, Denmark The Power of Experience? Innovative and Authoritative Leadership Values Among Army Cadets.

CASTRO, Celso (34.3) Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil. The Research As a Totem: How an Academic Book Became the Patrimony of a Generation of Officers.

LAST (42.4) David, Royal Military College of Canada, Canada. Military Education and an Emerging Transnational Profession of Arms.

MALHEIRO (42.3) Luis, IUM, Portugal; Fernando BESSA, Guarda Nacional Republicana, PortugalHelena CARREIRAS, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Portugal and Patricia AVILA, ISCTE, “Portugal Institutional Representations and Professional Aspirations of Cadets in Portuguese Military Academies”

MURATORI, Marcela (31.3), CONICET/Universidad de Buenos Aires. UNDEF/Colegio Militar de la Nación, Argentina Análisis De Las Creencias y La Percepción Del Contexto Social En Cadetes Argentinos [Analysis of Beliefs and Perception of the Social Context in Argentine Cadets]

OSTERBERG (42.5) Johan, Swedish Defense University, Sweden and Eva JOHANSSON, Swedish Defence University, Sweden Implementing a New Basic Military Training,

PAANANEN (42.1) Soili, National Defence University, Finland. Military Leaders’ Education and Training for Crisis Management Environments: Perceptions of Its Suitability for Adaptive Expertise.

ROELSGAARD OBLING (42.6) Anne, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. The Training of a Comprehensive Self in Military Education and Culture.

SOETERS, Joseph, (39.1) Dept. Organization Studies; Tilburg University, Netherlands Polemistogenesis: The unintended or taken-for-granted impact of military action.

TILLBERG (42.2) Lotta Victor, Royal Institute of Technology, Swedish Centre for Studies of Armed Forces and Society, Stockholm, Sweden The Dynamics of Skills – an Epistemological Study of Military Professionalism in Situations When Rules Clash.

TORRES, José, (31.5) UNDEF, Argentina and Cinthia CLOTET, Colegio Militar de la Nación Facultad del Ejército Argentino UNDEF, Argentina La Evolución De La Formación Universitaria En El Ejército Argentino [The Evolution of University Training in the Argentine Army]Holistic Professional Formation

Report from Toronto, 2018

This recently released study of holistic professional formation at the Canadian Forces College is based on interviews and survey data among students of the mid-career Joint Command and Staff Program (JCSP) and the National Security Program (NSP) for senior officers.

Faculty Development Menu, prepared by Defence Education Enhancement Program, March 2017,

Report from ISMS Conference 2018, Warsaw

Abstracts from the 2018 conference are now posted under past conferences.

Roundtable on the Military Education Working Group and improving PME

A feature of the conference was a roundtable on professional military education on the final day. The roundtable was well-attended, with participants from Greece, Portugal, Latvia, Canada, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Romania, amongst others, and not limited to the working group on military education. The agenda for the roundtable followed up on the three themes of the military education panels: improving our classrooms, improving our institutions, and improving our links with society. Some of the suggestions about how the working group can assist included:

Sharing curricular materials (content, context, and pedagogy)
Sharing data for research
Discussions of academic integrity
comparing mechanisms for institutional accountability
including a Rectors' or Deans' panel in future conferences
inviting outsiders or stakeholders to discuss the role of our institutions
open question lines for key positions (registrars, editors, deans)
Expanding the Military Profession section of the nascent Handbook of Military Sciences to launch an encyclopedia of military education
Encouraging professors' exchanges or sabbatical opportunities
creating a pool for examination committees
comparing the teaching, research and service balance for civil and military faculty
comparing our institutional quality assurance systems
comparing our faculty composition (military, civilian, retired military)
Finding funds to support student travel to participate in future conferences
Developing prizes and incentives for student officers
Offering attendance at ISMS as an incentive for exceptional academic work

Report from Vienna, 2019

Abstracts from the 2019 conference are now posted under past conferences.

Nuno Loureiro's's report of the Military Education Working Group activities at the 2019 conference in Vienna is attached here.