Soldiers, citizens, security

Taking the soldier as the object of inquiry within different national and historical contexts, this research line of the Research Programme Securities in collaboration with CRESC is developing a multi-disciplinary network committed to exploring research synergies that address the following questions:

• What is the significance of the soldier in contemporary debates about national identity?
• What is the social status of both the serving and the former soldier who are effectively migrants, and how is this status constructed or regulated in relation to immigration law, welfare rights and other categories of citizenship?
• How do we think through practices and technologies of recruitment to the armed forces in relation to education, social welfare, and the market?
• What are the implications of the current commercialisation and privatisation of practices and services traditionally supplied by the armed forces?
• How do we think about processes of militarization in terms of culture, identity and subjectivity – both inside and outside the global, regional and national security industry and institutions?

Vron Ware, who leads this research line, organized two international workshops on the theme of 'Soldiers, Citizenship and Security' with the aim of building a multi-disciplinary network of scholars working on these themes across Europe and North America. The workshop programmes are attached below.

The research line also includes work on the manpower policies of national armed forces. These policies are hugely significant in defining the bounds of political community at a time of unprecedented global mobility and tightening border controls. Yet in the context of the UK, the link between national identity, Britishness, security and the military has been under-explored and insufficiently theorized, particularly outside the confines of International Relations and military sociology. The book project draws on an ethnographic study of the British Army which explores the employment of non-UK nationals from Commonwealth countries, agreed through contract with the MoD. Although the primary focus of this research, agreed through contract with the MOD, is to investigate the experiences of these soldiers and the impact of their presence within the Army, the project also addresses the failure of mainstream social science to include the military in discussions of diversity, national identity (Britishness) and social cohesion, despite the historical role of colonial troops fighting European wars and the links between social citizenship and military service.

Contact: Vron Ware