This study examined relations between psychological capital, subjective well-being, and anxiety among students during the Israeli national crisis following the events of October 7, 2023. The sample comprised 310 students, including evacuated ( n = 147) and non-evacuated participants ( n = 163). We found that the psychological capital was positively associated with subjective well-being and negatively associated with anxiety, while subjective well-being mediated this relationship. Evacuation status moderated the psychological capital–subjective well-being link, with stronger effects observed among evacuated students. Non-evacuated students exhibited higher psychological capital and subjective well-being and lower anxiety than their evacuated peers, underscoring the psychological toll of displacement. The findings confirm the psychological capital’s role as a protective resource and the role of subjective well-being as a mediator, translating internal strengths into emotional stability. The study contributes to the military-and-society literature by examining how a large-scale armed conflict and the resulting civilian evacuation shape psychological adaptation among young adults.
Conscription-based militaries in countries facing demographic decline increasingly outsource support functions to civilian contractors, raising the question of whether users who rotate out within 18 months can credibly monitor contractor performance. This research note examines that question in the Republic of Korea Army through two 2025 studies of laundry, equipment maintenance, and waste disposal: a survey of 361 conscripts and an Analytic Hierarchy Process and Weighted Product evaluation of 154 officers. Drawing on principal-agent theory, we find that while the monitoring channel works on the evaluation side, it is obstructed in two ways: Most users in implementation units are unaware that services have been outsourced, and officers’ most valued criteria, particularly wartime operational support, remain structurally unobservable to users. Contracts in conscription-based outsourcing should therefore match monitoring mechanisms to the observability of each criterion, rather than relying on user feedback as a uniform information channel.
Research to date shows the impact of military life on spouses, neglecting those without children. 245 British Army wives completed a survey, with 10 completing an interview, investigating the impact of Army life on well-being, coping mechanisms and support for wives with and without children. All Army wives had low well-being at least in part due to being an Army spouse and Army Culture. Negative associations with avoidance coping mechanisms and well-being were observed, with wives without children using fewer coping mechanisms. Informally, the military community is important, with issues in support from family and civilian friends. Formally, British Army support is scarce, with Senior Officers lacking training. The theoretical model showed that most coping strategies used were unable to overcome the stressors of Army life for all. These findings highlight the need for better support systems for Army families by the British Army, as well as increased support for self-coping.
This study examines the development of military motivation throughout compulsory service and the factors that contribute to its maintenance over time. The findings reflect two processes of motivational decline: “motivational cascade”—a sharp drop in motivation at the point of enlistment, and “motivational erosion”—a continued gradual decline over time. The study focuses on organizational factors that may moderate these processes. Data from a four-wave cohort-longitudinal study of Israeli conscripts were analyzed through multilevel modeling, to examine the contributions of within- and between-person components in explaining motivational variance over time. The full model explained 41% of within-person and 30% of between-person variance in motivation. While motivational drivers were found to anchor the level of motivation throughout service, hygiene factors operated as “erosion accelerators” dictating the rate of motivational decline. These findings hold significant implications for Western militaries in an era of growing geopolitical threats and the need to recruit and retain “human mass.”
This study develops the concept of the quasi-total institution to explain how the contemporary U.S. Army preserves military distinctiveness while adapting to cohort change. Drawing on 30 interviews with senior non-millennial Army leaders and junior millennial soldiers conducted in 2018–2019, the study examines standards, discipline, identity, leadership, and accommodation during the millennial transition. Quasi-totality is defined as a hybrid institutional regime marked by selective totalization, managed permeability, co-produced discipline, and bounded accommodation. Findings show that resilience lies neither in rigid continuity nor wholesale adaptation. Communication, leadership, and personnel-management practices shift, while core standards, hierarchy, and identity-forming socialization remain protected. The study refines total institution theory for the all-volunteer force and shows how strong military institutions absorb cohort pressure without surrendering their identity-defining functions.
Why do some states enact conscription whereas others do not? Previous scholarship focuses on conscription as a security policy states use to counter threats. Yet, many leaders enact conscription outside periods of war. We focus instead on the benefit of conscription to individual leaders. We posit that revolutionary leaders are more likely to enact conscription than other leaders because they can use the military, in part, to socialize large portions of the population to their vision for the new state. Statistical analysis strongly supports this argument. We compare this direct pathway to an indirect pathway connecting revolutionary leaders to conscription through their heightened propensity for conflict. Mediation analysis reveals that the direct pathway accounts for most of this effect. We illustrate this mechanism through the cases of Nazi Germany and Zimbabwe.
Ukraine is simultaneously constructing a comprehensive gender policy framework and fighting Europe’s largest war since 1945, with approximately 68,000 women serving in its Armed Forces. This paper examines the implementation of gender-sensitive language standards, centring on Ministry of Defence Order No. 236 (April 2024)—the first directive mandating nondiscriminatory communication across the Ukrainian military. Through normative-legal document analysis and comparative NATO assessment, the study traces the policy chain from UNSCR 1325 to unit-level practice, identifying a persistent implementation deficit: enforcement depends on commanders’ discretion, complaint mechanisms remain underdeveloped, and gender-sensitive communication is absent from military ethical codes. War operates as a double-edged catalyst—accelerating gender integration while providing cover for deprioritising reform. The analysis reveals bidirectional Ukraine–NATO knowledge transfer and offers the first English-language analysis of Order No. 236, advancing implementation theory by showing how conflict compresses and accelerates the trajectory of gender-sensitive communication reform.
This research examines whether democratic erosion may occur not through military intervention but through legally sanctioned institutional integration. Building on Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of objective civilian control, it introduces the concept of legal militarization, defined as the expansion of coercive institutions into civilian governance through formal statutory authorization rather than extra-constitutional action. Using a structured, focused comparison of Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, and South Korea, the study analyzes how legally authorized appointments of active-duty officers reshape institutional boundaries and civilian oversight capacity. The findings show that legal militarization redistributes authority toward coercive actors and is associated with weaker civilian oversight where institutional safeguards are limited. However, strong constitutional review and bureaucratic autonomy moderate these effects. By specifying the conditions under which objective civilian control remains resilient or vulnerable, the article refines civil–military relations theory in transitional democracies.
Existing research on convertibility often focuses on the objective aspect of convertibility, while its subjective side remains under-theorized. This study highlights the contribution of subjective interpretation to a deeper understanding of convertibility. The research is based on in-depth interviews with former conscripts in the Israel Defense Forces, who served in the Intelligence Corps and various combat units. Based on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the findings disclose that the former conscripts perceive the potential for convertibility based on their interpretation of the capital they acquired during their military service. Their interpretation unveiled a distinction between the “private self” and the “occupational self.” I argue that while the field dictates the objective value of the capital, and there is structural alignment between the military and civilian fields, convertibility is not an automatic process, but a mediated process in which habitus functions as an interpretive lens through which individuals evaluate convertibility.
This phenomenological study examined 60 final letters and messages from soldiers who fell in the "Iron Swords" War, identifying the emergence of an "Emotional Mandate" that actively manages parental bereavement. The findings reveal that in these letters, soldiers requested their parents to rejoice and celebrate life rather than mourning traditionally, thereby expropriating their autonomy over their grief. The analysis highlights a "Dyadic Effect" that constructs gendered resilience roles between the father and mother, and an "Archaeology of the Letter" that imbues both the digital and physical medium with binding authority. The study warns against "Grief under a Mandate for Positivity," which fosters disenfranchised grief and increases the risk of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). Finally, it emphasizes the therapeutic necessity of legitimizing the pain that contradicts the soldier's request for joy.
This study examines whether and how military service and confidence in the military are associated with social trust using data from the 1972 to 2024 General Social Survey. Drawing on institutional theory, the analysis specifies a conditional relationship in which the effect of confidence in the military varies by service length across cohorts and periods. The results indicate that race and education function as suppressors, revealing underlying negative associations between military service and social trust among short- and long-service veterans relative to nonveterans in volunteer-era cohorts in the 2010-2024 waves. Moreover, strong conditional effects emerge. Among these cohorts, reporting "hardly any" confidence is associated with markedly lower levels of social trust among short- and long-service veterans. In contrast, confidence in the military shows no significant association among nonveterans. Overall, the findings indicate that the relationship between institutional confidence and social trust is conditional on institutional experience across cohorts and periods.
This systematic review investigates how patterns of civil-military relations (CMR) influence the interstate conflict and crisis engagement. Despite a proliferation of theories and methodological innovations, the field remains fragmented, with persistent gaps and conflicting empirical results. Examining 31 studies from diverse academic journals, the review maps trends in the use of CMR-related variables and synthesizes findings from 98 explanatory concepts associated with interstate conflict and crisis engagement, ultimately identifying eight key CMR factors. The analysis, drawing on sign-test results, reveals that while some CMR dynamics-such as militarism in autocracy, military influence in CMR, and structural coup-proofing mechanisms-show potential influence, no single factor emerges as a definitive or consensus determinant. This result underscores the urgent need for more integrated theoretical frameworks and a deeper exploration of causal mechanisms, offering clear priorities and directions for advancing future research in the field.
Does discrimination in the military erode institutional trust and reduce public support for defense spending and recruitment? We test this through a survey experiment (n = 2,442) examining Canadian public reactions to scenarios highlighting the Canadian Armed Forces' inclusion challenges for First Nations, M & eacute;tis and Inuit, Francophones, people of colour, LGBTQ2S+, and women. Findings reveal that discrimination scandals significantly erode public trust, reduce support for defense spending, and undermine willingness to recommend military recruitment. Using causal mediation analysis, we demonstrate that discrimination primarily operates through its effect on institutional trust rather than through direct pathways. Crucially, trust functions as a more complete mediator in recruitment decisions than in defense spending, indicating that personnel recruitment depends almost entirely on institutional confidence, while spending support reflects a more complex calculus. Maintaining public trust-particularly trust that the military reflects societal values of inclusion-is essential for sustaining public support necessary for military recruitment and resource mobilization.
Existing research on geographic mobility and educational or career transitions has largely concentrated on voluntary moves or international migration, leaving limited attention to the sub-national mobility of children from military families. This article addresses this gap by examining the experiences of younger students who relocate frequently within national borders due to parental military service, drawing on qualitative research with these children and the educators who support them. Frequent relocations pose distinctive challenges, including navigating different education systems and coping with disrupted social networks. To mitigate these disruptions, children and schools often cultivate experiences of 'familiarity', reinforcing a shared military identity. While this identity can ease transitions, our findings reveal tensions for children moving to regions with minimal armed forces presence or for those who resist close association with their military background. By highlighting these nuanced dynamics, this study extends current understandings of mobility and education, offering insights into an underexplored population whose experiences complicate dominant narratives of geographic mobility.
Emergency response squads in Israel represent a unique mix between civilian volunteerism and military-style security functions, operating in communities exposed to persistent security threats. This study examined how members of Emergency Response Squads negotiated their professional identity, role ambiguity, and physical readiness within a framework that decreases the clarity of traditional civil-military boundaries. Using a mixed-methods design, we surveyed 21 squad members with the Hebrew version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-S-H) and conducted semi-structured interviews to explore perceptions of organizational structure and readiness. Findings revealed a strong sense of community commitment but significant lacks in institutional support, standardized training, and physical fitness requirements. These shortages created tensions between the expectation of military-level performance and the voluntary nature of participation. We propose the Volunteer Readiness Integration Model, a conceptual framework linking community identity, organizational infrastructure, physical competence, and social resilience.
