ABSTRACT
This book sets out the major social scientific approaches to the study of Special Operations Forces.
Despite consistent downsizing, over the past two decades the armed forces of the industrial democracies have seen a huge growth in Special Operations Forces (SOF). Through increasing numbers of personnel and more frequent deployments, SOF units have wielded considerable influence in conflicts around the world, with senior SOF officers having led major strategic operations. This increased presence and unprecedented expansion for SOF is largely a result of the ‘new’ kinds of conflicts that have emerged in the 21st century. At the same time, even with this high profile in the military, policy and media and popular cultural arenas, there is relatively little social scientific research on SOF. This volume aims to fill this gap by providing a series of studies and analyses of SOF across the globe, since the end of World War II. Analysing SOF at the micro, mezzo and macro levels provides broad and diverse insights. Moreover, the volume deals with new issues raised by the use of such forces that include emerging modes of civilian control, innovative organizational forms and the special psychological characteristics necessitated by SOF operatives. It concludes with a discussion of a question which continues to be debated in today’s militaries: what makes SOF ‘special’?
Filling a clear gap in the literature, this book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, civil-military relations, irregular warfare, security studies, and international relations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|43 pages
The emergence of special operations forces
part II|31 pages
Civilian control and public imagery
chapter 5|15 pages
Special operations forces (SOF) as the “silver bullet”
chapter 6|14 pages
‘Unintended acceleration’ 1
part III|94 pages
Social dynamics, organizational processes and challenges
chapter 8|14 pages
Service cultures and collective military action
chapter 9|17 pages
Dutch forward air controllers in Uruzgan
part IV|58 pages
Innovation, entrepreneurship and the military institution
chapter 13|16 pages
The self and the mirror
chapter 14|11 pages
Special forces, ethos and technology
chapter 15|14 pages
Organizational entrepreneurship and special forces
part V|30 pages
Psychological perspectives
chapter 17|15 pages
Profiling the Swedish Ranger
part VI|31 pages
Setting (special) agendas