The Changing Face of European Conscription

by Joenniemi,Pertti

• ISBN13: 9780754644101
• ISBN10: 0754644103
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Conscription is seen as forming a site and an issue-area around which different identities are struggled over and core political relations established in a security-related context. The unravelling of conscription thus unavoidably pertains to a set of essential ideational issues and has significance far beyond the military sphere. The contributors to this book explore the more profound issues such as the meaning of conscription in the context of the increasingly feeble relationship between the state and the nation. The analysis relates the question of changes or lack of change in recruitment to broader social, political and cultural issues, thereby breaking new ground. Attention not only focuses on what the military manpower systems do, but also on what they represent. As such, conscription has meaning far beyond the sphere of military affairs.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	vii
Acknowledgements	ix
1 Introduction: Unpacking Conscription	1	(12)
Pertti Joenniemi
2 Farewell to Conscription? The Case of Denmark	13	(28)
Pertti Joenniemi
3 National or International? Contending Discourses on Finnish Conscription	41	(22)
Kari Laitinen
4 The Rise and Death of Conscription: The Case of France	63	(20)
Jean-Philippe Lecomte
5 Resisting Change: The Politics of Conscription in Contemporary Germany	83	(16)
Kerry Longhurst
6 The Power of the Draft: A Century of Changing Legitimacy of Norway's Armed Forces	99	(20)
Karsten Friis
7 Enduring Conscription: Vagueness and Várnplikt in Sweden	119	(18)
Anna Leander
8 The Swedish Military Manpower Policies and their Gender Implications	137	(24)
Annica Kronsell and Erika Svedberg
9 Conclusion: National Lexica of Conscription	161	(14)
Anna Leander and Pertti Joenniemi
Index	175