Recruiting the “enterprising soldier”: military recruitment discourses in Sweden and the United Kingdom

Strand, Sanna; Berndtsson, Joakim

doi:10.1080/23337486.2015.1090676

Cited by 44 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…She has suggested that ‘neoliberal workfarism and national militarism, combined, instruct the nation’s poor to sacrifice and serve, and in exchange they will receive services’ (Cowen, 2008: 253). Sanna Strand and Joakim Berndtsson (2015) have linked contemporary discourses on soldiery to neo-liberal governance. Comparing army recruitment discourses in the UK and Sweden, they found that ‘in both cases, the recruitment of “voluntary” soldiers to military service focuses to a large extent on a “marketized” rhetoric, and images of individual self-fulfilment and self-enterprise’ (Strand and Berndtsson, 2015: 233).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘But when I tell them about heroes, then they listen’

Frisk

2016

Acta Sociologica

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This paper explores the rise of the soldier hero in Denmark. From the analysis of prime ministers' New Year Addresses between 1940 and 2015, it is evident that the heroification of Danish soldiers has been linked to the elevation of professionalism, self-motivation, individual responsibility, and global outlook as civic virtues since the 1990s. Utilising the concept of a survival unit developed by Norbert Elias, it argues that this elevation is a result of the gradual emergence of 'competition state' and 'security state' strategies for protecting the Danish welfare state in the wake of growing international interdependency. On this basis, the paper seeks to contribute to the literature on the social construction of heroes within a theoretical perspective that takes the dynamic relations between states into account, and to explain why specific notions of a hero develop.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘But when I tell them about heroes, then they listen’

Frisk

2016

Acta Sociologica

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“…49 This move has also transformed the ways in which the SAF "brands" itself as an employer among young people, and has forced the organisation to compete on an open labour market. 50 The nature and transformation of the Swedish military can be seen in many ways as an increasing move towards professionalisation, both in terms of the contractual arrangements for soldiers and in terms of overall competence and capabilities. 51 In addition, and mirroring (New Public Management) trends in many other countries, changes brought about in Sweden since the 1990s have often been aimed at streamlining the military, to make it more cost-effective and increase the level of political oversight and control.…”

Section: Military Transformation Professionalisation and Security Oumentioning

confidence: 99%

The market and the military profession: competition and change in the case of Sweden

Berndtsson

2019

Defense & Security Analysis

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The rise of private military and security companies (PMSCs) challenges our notion of military professionals. PMSCs bring new claims to professional status and legitimacy outside military institutions and represent an increasing diffusion of-and competition over-military and security expertise. In light of this development, understanding the formation of professional identities in military and private security organisations is as an important undertaking. This paper contributes to this endeavour by analysing professional self-images in the Swedish Armed Forces and how these relate to PMSCs. The study is based on data collected from official documents, semi-structured interviews and a small-scale survey among senior military officers. Focusing on military understandings of PMSCs and contractors, the analysis provides much-needed insight into relational aspects of professional identity formation outside the US context. Furthermore, it points to discrepancies in organisational and group levels in understandings of commercial security actors, and paves the way for future research.

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“…Moreover, as demonstrated by Brown (2012), recruiting campaigns by the US Armed Forces increasingly represent military personnel as embodying a 'business masculinity'. Similarly, Swedish military recruiting campaigns launched since the introduction of the AVF have been promoting 'enterprising soldiers', inviting potential recruits to 'grow as individuals' by gaining 'transferable skills' and 'employability' with the SAF (Strand and Berndtsson 2015).…”

Section: Valuable Veterans and Marketized Military Machineriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11. See Strand and Berndtsson (2015) for a critique of the 'voluntary' branding of military enlistments. 12.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Next to recruitment campaigns promoting soldier careers to young individuals (cf. Strand and Berndtsson 2015), efforts to 'recognize' the Swedish veteran and peacekeeper emerged, for instance manifested in the adaptation of a Comprehensive Veteran Policy by the parliament in 2010, the institution of a Veteran Day, an official veteran monument, and new veteran medals. 5 This paper offers insights into the process of politically inventing (not simply reinventing or rehabilitating) a Swedish (War) Veteran.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inventing the Swedish (War) Veteran

Strand

2018

Critical Military Studies

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Research on military veterans often stresses the importance of controlling and ascribing meaning to the bodies of veterans, both for recruitment purposes and for retaining legitimacy of military machineries and missions more generally. As wars and war veterans long have been peripheral phenomena for most citizens, Sweden offers a particularly interesting context in which to study how veterans are ascribed meaning. When abandoning conscription in favour of a postnational, all-volunteer force in 2010, the Swedish veteran emerged as a subject position in need of political invention and intervention. Since then, techniques of government have increasingly represented military personnel as uniquely deserving of public recognition, hence seemingly inventing a (war) veteran. The article offers unique insights into this process. It shows how 'the recognized veteran' is scripted as a self-sacrificing and yet self-fulfilling individual, for whom war deployments have brought about personal and professional growth. These constructions render veterans competitive and employable in civilian labour markets and represent the military institution as a career stepping-stone for young, responsible individuals. By analysing how veteran identities are produced and promoted through politics of recognition, this paper offers vital insights into how the Swedish Armed Forces and its deployments are made possible and desirable in a time of marketization and far-reaching military transformations.

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Recruiting the “enterprising soldier”: military recruitment discourses in Sweden and the United Kingdom

Cited by 44 publications

References 23 publications

‘But when I tell them about heroes, then they listen’

‘But when I tell them about heroes, then they listen’

The market and the military profession: competition and change in the case of Sweden

Inventing the Swedish (War) Veteran

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