De ontwikkeling van de militaire professie: Van paradox naar paradox

Samenvatting

Proceeding from Norbert Elias's "Studies in the Genesis of the Naval Profession" (1950) & other works, it can be seen that as a product of the civilizing process, military professionals have an institutional interest in distancing themselves from amateurs in the use of organized violence. They can do this best by keeping their wars clean, short, & victorious, ie, maneuver warfare. Attrition warfare, in contrast, was exemplified by the trench fighting of WWI, lacking in professional excellence. However, maneuver warfare is held in check by the notion that war is honorable only when fighting opponents of the same technological sophistication, eg, tanks vs tanks, leading back to attrition warfare, in which numbers often decide the outcome. Yet another problem with maneuver warfare is its emphasis on nothing but military results, with little concern for ethics. In one of its most extreme forms, it led to the barbarization of warfare by the Nazis in WWII. The fruitfulness of Elias's insights into the problems of violence & its management, state formation, & management & suppression of violence becomes especially evident when applied to the study of the military. 12 References. Adapted form the source document.