Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. The military in Latin America has been extensively involved in pandemic relief operations. This paper analyses the impact of militarization of pandemic relief operations on human rights. It argues that not all militarization is equally harmful to individuals in the region. When troops assume responsibilities regarding medical care and logistical support, human rights violations do not follow. When involved in policing the stay-at-home orders, the extent of human rights violations is explained by the level of operational autonomy the military has in pu ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. This article unpacks the phenomenon of identity-based stacking in armed forces to lay the groundwork for a next generation of scholarship, proposing three sets of extensions with examples from regimes in Africa and the Middle East. First, we argue that scholars might treat the concept of stacking with greater nuance by considering variation in stacking’s modal forms, incorporating identities beyond ethnicity, considering how the salience of stacking varies within armed forces, and treating the identities on which stacking is based as malleable. Second ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. The article presents an empirical analysis of whether, how, and why people are active to either support or protest against the Bundeswehr. Public opinion polls consistently report high levels of trust in the military. According to the social-psychological approach of participation theory, this trust should lead to corresponding actions. However, the literature on civil–military gaps claims that the majority of people pay mere lip service to soldiers rather than actively support the armed forces. No active support despite high levels of trust? In an ef ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. Excessive alcohol use, especially binge and heavy drinking, represents a serious threat to force readiness across the Department of Defense. Though these behaviors are a matter of individual service member choice, they are influenced by perceptions of the culture of alcohol use in the military. This paper uses data from the 2018 Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty service members to explore associations between perceived alcohol culture and excessive alcohol use, any serious drinking consequences, risky driving behaviors, productivity loss ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. This study interrogates the experiences of Nigerian troops in the war against Boko Haram. The paper’s contribution is bi-dimensional. First, it adds to the empirical literature on Boko Haram by analyzing the perspectives of rank-and-file troops. The study finds 10 forms of corruption affecting troops. These have contributed to the inability to defeat Boko Haram. Second, the paper adds to theoretical scholarship on civil–military relations and persistence of small wars. It challenges the bureaucratic-organizational model and the focus of civil–military ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. Evidence suggests that UK veterans are seen as victims with concern for their perceived mental health needs. This study examined sociodemographic factors that contribute to victimizing conceptualizations of British Army Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. UK participants (N = 234) provided three word associations to “British Army Iraq Veteran” and “British Army Afghanistan Veteran” and answered sociodemographic questions. A multiple linear regression outlines that low national pride, mission opposition and higher levels of education predict elevated victim ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. The promotion of inclusion in the U.S. Army requires an understanding of how and why exclusion occurs. As exclusion can have deleterious impacts at both and individual and organizational level, reducing exclusive behaviors can have positive effects on Soldiers and the Army. To explore exclusion in the Army, 19 focus groups were conducted with 120 active-duty enlisted Soldiers. Two rounds of thematic analysis revealed four themes related to exclusion. Participants indicated exclusion to be often based on low or bad performance, personality factors that ..read more

Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. The U.S. military’s nonpartisan norms are an important part of healthy civil–military relations. Some research, however, suggest these norms are weakening. This study examines the evidence for eroding nonpartisan norms by analyzing U.S. military servicemembers’ partisan affiliations and political activism levels from 2008 to 2018. It finds that since 2008, military servicemembers have become more likely to identify as partisans. Servicemembers have also become more politically active than civilians, although this is due to decreasing activism among th ..read more

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Armed Forces &Society, Ahead of Print. Research suggests that marginalized groups can use military service to win greater governmental and social acceptance by using civic republican rhetoric, however, conditions in which claims-making rhetoric is coercive are underspecified. Because rhetorical effectiveness requires sympathetic ears, we examine the influence of (1) expectations and political efforts of marginalized group members seeking greater acceptance, (2) whether majority group economic status is outpacing marginalized groups seeking improved treatment, and (3) whether marginalized g ..read more