Armed Forces and Societies: Changing Roles and Legitimacy

Abstract

One of the enduring concerns regarding the relationship between the armed forces and the society is how the armed forces are legitimised and sustained by the societies which they exist to protect. One area of debate here, highlighted by sociologists of the military and considered in the succeeding chapter, has been the right or the need for armed forces to be different from society, in order to carry out their unique responsibilities — and ultimately to sacrifice their lives if necessary in discharging those responsibilities. In a number of respects this focus has overlooked broader reflections on armed forces and society relations, in particular how and what roles the military should have. Important questions here surround the structural relationships between societies and their armed forces, and specifically the issue of how the roles of the armed forces enhance or hamper their linkage to and legitimacy within societies across Europe.