This innovative book presents the reader with a clear international view of interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary approaches to military and conflict-resolution studies. In this first title on its subject, leading expert Giuseppe Caforio offers a thorough analysis of the new aspects and trends of the social sciences in studying the military. Since the end of the Cold War, military operations other than war, crisis-response operations, the fight against terrorism, and hi-tech warfare have posed for the militaries of all countries a new set of human and social challenges and problems of an intensity that had never been seen in peacetime. Sociology, social psychology, anthropology and the science of conflict are grappling with these issues, common to all armed forces, with a new fervor. This new book offers an update on the state-of-the-art on this theme and defines the latest study and research trends in the field. "Social Sciences and the Military" contains essays by some of the most highly regarded scholars on the subject and will be essential reading for all students of civil-military relations, conflict resolution and military studies in general.

List of illustrations ; List of contributors ; Introduction: The interdisciplinary and cross-national character of social studies on the military: the need for such an approach / Giuseppe Caforio ; Part I. General issues: Challenges of the 21st century, social sciences and strategic thinking / Vladimir Rukavishnikov -- Current developments and trends in social research on the military / David R. Segal -- Military organization and culture from three perspectives: the case of army / Donna Winslow -- Political science perspectives on the military and civil-military relations / John Allen Williams -- Social history and the armed forces: military education and social change / Slawomir Magala -- From a psychological to a behavioral-sciences approach and beyond in military research: current status and trends / Jacques Mylle -- The study of workgroups in the military: an organisational aesthetics perspective / Enrico Maria Piras ; Part II. New issues and emerging trends: Conceptual insecurity: new wars, MOOTW, CRO, terrorism, and the military / Wilfried von Bredow -- How the military can profit from management and organization science / Eric de Waard, Joseph Soeters -- The military in post-communist societies in transition / Marian Zulean -- Trends and evolution in the military profession / Giuseppe Caforio -- Women soldiers in a transcultural perspective / Marina Nuciari -- Between legitimacy and efficiency: a comparative view on democratic accountability of defense activities in democracies / Hans Born, Ingrid Beutler.