The military covenant and the civil-military contract in Britain

International Affairs

Volumn 86, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 411-428

  Mccartney, Helen ^a  

^a KING'S COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77954126744     PISSN: 00205850     EISSN: 14682346     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2010.00889.x     Document Type: Article

References (95)

1. Timothy Edmunds and Anthony Forster, Out of step: the case for change in the UK armed forces (London: Demos, 2007); http://www.britishlegion.org/campaigning/honour-the-covenant, accessed 28 Oct. 2009; Frederick Forsyth, 'Restoring the covenant: the Military Covenant Commission's report to the leader of the Conservative Party', Sept. 2008, http://www.conservatives.com/media/files/Downloadable%20files/MILITARY_COVENANT.ashx?dl=true-2008-09-29, accessed 18 Jan. 2010; Brian Brady, Andrew Johnson, Jonathan Owen and Mark Taylor, 'IOS military covenant campaign: father, dear father', Independent on Sunday, 15 June 2008.
2. 'Don't you know there is a bloody war on?' Sun, 28 Aug. 2009, http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2611351/Dont-you-know-theres-a-bloody-war-on.html, accessed 29 Aug. 2009; Audrey Gilligan and Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Care of soldiers compromised by failing army pact', Guardian, 15 Aug. 2007; Nick Allen and Rosa Prince, 'Shortage of helicopters undermining "protection" of troops in Afghanistan', Daily Telegraph, 16 July 2009.
3. http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/index.cfm?asset_id=516933, accessed 17 Sept. 2007.
4. David Modell, 'Battle scarred', Dispatches, Channel 4, 7 Sept. 2009; A. Iversen, V. Nicolaou, C. Unwin, N. Greenberg, C. Dandeker, J. Ross and S. Wessely, 'What happens to UK veterans when they leave the armed forces?', European Journal of Public Health 15: 2, 2005, pp. 175-84; 'Conflicts of war' exhibition, National Army Museum, 17 Sept. 2009.
5. Michael Evans, 'Military uniforms in public "risk offending minorities"', Times Online, 8 March 2008, http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3508223.ece, accessed 8 March 2008; Alice Thomson, 'Miraculously our forces are fit for purpose', Daily Telegraph, 7 Dec. 2007.
6. http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=142746, accessed 4 March 2008.
7. The nation's commitment: cross-government support to our armed forces, their families and veterans, Cm 7424 (London: HMSO, July 2008).
8. Quentin Davies, Bill Clark and Martin Sharp, Report of inquiry into national recognition of our armed forces, May 2008, http://www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/aboutdefence/corporatepublications/personnelpublications/dutyofcare/nationalrecognitionofourarmedforces.htm, accessed 19 July 2008.
9. Frank G. Hoffman, 'Dereliction of duty redux? Post-Iraq American civil-military relations', Orbis 52: 2, 2008, p. 220. In his agenda-forming article, 'Breaking the covenant', Anthony Forster concentrated on internal challenges to Army authority and the relationship between senior officers and the government, rather than examining the relationship between the armed forces and wider society: Anthony Forster, 'Breaking the covenant: governance of the British army in the twenty-first century', International Affairs 82: 6, 2006, pp. 1043-57.
10. Christianne Tipping, 'Understanding the military covenant', RUSI Journal 153: 3, June 2008, pp.12-15.
11. http://www.army.mod.uk/join/terms/3111.aspx, accessed 27 Oct. 2009.
12. James Burk, 'The changing moral contract for military service', in Andrew Bacevich, ed., The long war: a new history of US national security policy since World War II (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007).
13. Martha Finnemore, The purpose of intervention (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), p. 19; Theo Farrell, Norms of war: cultural belief and modern conflict (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005),p. 178
14. Lawrence Freedman, The transformation of strategic affairs (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006), p. 41.
15. Martin Shaw, The new western way of war: risk-transfer warfare and its crisis in Iraq (Cambridge: Polity, 2005), p. 92.
16. Freedman, Transformation of strategic affairs, p. 41; Christopher Coker, Ethics and war in the twenty-first century (London: Routledge, 2008), p. 33.
17. Colin McInnes, Spectator-sport war: the West and contemporary conflict (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2002), pp. 149-51.
18. McInnes, Spectator-sport war, p. 144.
19. For a discussion of the development of 'just war' ethics, see Alex Bellamy, Just wars: from Cicero to Iraq (Cambridge: Polity, 2006).
20. Coker, Ethics and war, passim.
21. Hugh Smith, 'The last casualty: public perceptions of bearable cost in a democracy', in Michael Evans and Alan Ryan, eds, The human face of warfare: killing fear and chaos in battle (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 2000), p. 77.
22. 'Conflicts of interest' exhibition, National Army Museum, 14 Sept. 2009.
23. ICM poll, telephone survey of 2,000 people, 11 Sept. 2009; http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/pages/coi/survey.shtml, accessed 20 Sept. 2009
24. HewStrachan, 'The strategic gap in British defence policy', Survival 51: 4, 2009, pp.49-70; 'UK "not convinced" by Afghan goal', BBC News Online, 8 Nov. 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8348942.stm, accessed 8 Nov. 2009; Timothy Edmunds, 'What are armed forces for? The changing nature of military roles in Europe', International Affairs 82: 6, 2006, p.1062; Michael Howard, 'A long war?', Survival48: 4, 2006, p. 7.
25. For a discussion of public consent for current conflicts and its impact on civil-military relations, see HewStrachan, 'Making strategy: civil-military relations after Iraq', Survival 48: 3, 2006, pp.73-6.
26. 'John Reid gives keynote speech at King's', King's College London News Archive, 2006, http://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news_details_2006.php?news_id=17, accessed 1 Oct. 2009.
27. Lawrence Freedman, 'Victims and victors: reflections on the Kosovo war', Review of International Studies26: 3, 2000, p. 358.
28. Chris Tryhorn, 'Ross Kemp captures almost one million viewers', Guardian, 22 Jan. 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/22/tvratings.television, accessed 1 Nov. 2009.
29. 'Troops shot Iraqi civilians dead in cold blood', Independent, 9 May 2004; 'UK troops shot "harmless" Iraqis', BBC News Online, 11 May 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3701351.stm, accessed 24 June 2009; Shaw, The new western way of war, p. 124.
30. Rachel Kerr, 'A force for good? War, crime and legitimacy: the British Army in Iraq', Defence and Security Analysis24: 4, 20, p.414.
31. 'The Aitken Report: an investigation into cases of deliberate abuse and unlawful killing in Iraq in 2003 and 2004', 2008, http://www.mod.Uk/NR/rdon/yres7AC894D3-1430-4ADI-91/F.82103342CC5/0/aitken-rep.pdf, accessed 18 Jan. 2010.
32. Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Ministry of Defence named and shamed over British troops' behaviour in Iraq', Guardian, 2 Oct. 2009; 'Donal McIntyre Report', Radio Five Live, 11 Oct. 2009.
33. Sam Marsden, 'Civilian death soldiers not just a few bad apples', Independent, 21 Sept. 2009.
34. Interview with serving sergeant in the British Army, May 2007. This interview formed part of a series of qualitative, semi-structured interviews which examined soldiers' understanding of the concept of the military covenant and their views on the relationship between the British Army and contemporary British society. Forty-five interviews with serving sergeants, captains and majors were conducted between May and July 2007. The interviewees selected were representative of all branches of the Army and they were guaranteed anonymity. All subsequent quotations from this project will be footnoted in the same way, providing rank of interviewee and date of interview.
35. Brothers in arms: Basra, Sky television, 17 Aug. 2009.
36. Christopher Dandeker, 'Minutes of evidence taken before the Defence Committee: recruitment and retention in the armed forces', Defence Committee Publications, http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmdfan/424/8032501.htm, accessed 17 Jan. 2010.
37. Christopher Dandeker, 'Re-nationalization of military strategy? New challenges for the armed forces in a changing global environment', in Jurgen Kuhlmann and Jean Callaghan, eds, Military and society in twenty-first century Europe: a comparative analysis (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2000), p. 36; Forster, 'Breaking the covenant', p. 1048; Victoria Basham, 'Effecting discrimination: operational effectiveness and harassment in the British armed forces', Armed Forces and Society35:4, July 2009, p.731.
38. Dandeker, 'Re-nationalization of military strategy?', p. 36.
39. British defence doctrine (London: Ministry of Defence, 2008).
40. Forster, 'Breaking the covenant', p. 1048; Hew Strachan, 'The civil-military "gap" in Britain', Journal of Strategic Studies26: 2, 5, p.49.
41. http://www.army.mod.uk/join/terms/3111.aspx.
42. Christopher Dandeker, 'Recruiting the All-Volunteer Force: continuity and change in the British Army, 1963-2008', in Stuart A. Cohen, ed., The new citizen armies: Israel's armed forces in comparative perspective (London: Routledge, forthcoming 2010).
43. James Sturcke, 'Appeal court backs battlefield soldiers' human rights', Guardian, 18 May 2009.
44. Human rights laws should be extended to the battlefield, court to be told', Daily Telegraph, 8 March 2009.
45. 'MoD loses landmark human rights case', 18 May 2009, http://www.hja.net/legal-news/newsarticles-list/directnews-import/catherine-smith.aspx, accessed 2 Nov. 2009; James Sturcke, 'Appeal court backs battlefield soldiers' human rights', Guardian, 18 May 2009.
46. ADP land operations (London: Ministry of Defence, 2005), p. 146.
47. The military covenant doctrine was written in response to two perceived trends: the diversification of the British Army's recruitment base and the increasingly complex peace support operations in which the Army was participating during the 1990s. It articulated the creed of the British Army, explaining the overarching ethos of the organization, and was complementary to the accompanying doctrine, Values and standards of the British Army (London: Ministry of Defence, 2000), which set out the practical rules for soldiers to follow.
48. Forsyth, 'Restoring the covenant'; 'Honour the covenant campaign', http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/campaigning/honour-the-covenant, accessed 28 Oct. 2009; 'In breach of the military covenant', Independent, 28 Feb. 2009.
49. ADP land operations, p. 146.
50. Sarah Sands, 'Sir Richard Dannatt: a very honest general', Daily Mail, 12 Oct. 2006.
51. General Sir Richard Dannatt, address to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, 21 Sept. 2007, http://www.iiss.org/conferences/military-leaders-forum/general-sir-richard-dannatt, accessed 23 Sept. 2008.
52. British Legion accuses government of "failing its historic duty of care" toward frontline soldiers', MailOnline, 16 Aug. 2007, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-475478/British-Legion-accuses-Government-failing-historic-duty-care-frontline-soldiers.html, accessed 12 Aug. 2008.
53. Hew Strachan, 'Liberalism and conscription: 1789-1919', in Hew Strachan, ed., The British Army: manpower and society into the twenty-first century (London: Frank Cass, 2000), p. 13.
54. Strachan, 'Liberalism and conscription', p. 13.
55. Helen B. McCartney, Citizen soldiers: the Liverpool Territorials in the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 250-51.
56. Strachan, 'The civil-military "gap"', p. 44.
57. Strachan, 'The civil-military "gap"', pp. 59-60.
58. YouGov survey results, 26-28 March 2007 (sample size 2,042): http://www.yougov.com/archives/archives-Political.asp?jID+2&sID=2&rID=2&wID=o&uID=, accessed 17 May 2007.
59. Interview with captain in the British Army, May 2007.
60. Ministry of Defence, 'Defence estate development plan 2009', 3 July 2009, http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B128153D-FB42-47E8-87F4-0DD29DD0B9CA/0/DEDP09.pdf, accessed 20 July 2009
61. Interview with serving major in the British Army, June 2007.
62. 'An impromptu farewell becomes Britain's salute', New York Times, 18 May 2009.
63. It must also be remembered that communities in Wootton Bassett and the surrounding area include a high proportion of serving and ex-service personnel, who are perhaps more likely than others to show overt respect.
64. For an explanation of how the British empire helped to validate armed forces in the past, see Strachan, 'The civil-military "gap"', p. 46.
65. ICM poll, telephone survey of 2,000 people, 11 Sept. 2009; http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/pages/coi/survey.shtml, accessed 20 Sept. 2009.
66. Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Army launches recruitment drive as polls highlight soldiers' popularity', Guardian, 18 March 2008.
67. Help for Heroes website, http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/?gclid=CJ3C2MijgJ4CFaBb4wod_A9wqg, accessed 12 Oct. 2009.
68. A British Legion poll showed that in 2002 92 per cent of British adults thought remembrance events worth observing, while an estimated 45,000 British people observed the two-minute silence on 11 Nov. 2004. See Daily Mail, 11 Nov. 2002; BBC News Online, http://news.bbc.co.Uk/1/hi/uk/4001577.stm, accessed 23 June 2007.
69. http://www.citysalute.com/home/, accessed 2 April 2008.
70. Interviews with serving captains, sergeants and majors in the British Army, May-June 2007.
71. Rachel Sylvester, 'Army is a moral force. It's a force for good in the world, that's why people join', Daily Telegraph, 3 June 2006.
72. Simon Johnson, 'Armed, forces enjoy recruitment surge thanks to the credit crunch', Daily Telegraph, 30 Nov. 2008.
73. Interview with serving captain in the British Army, June 2007.
74. Interview with serving infantry captain in the British Army, June 2007.
75. Christopher Coker, The warrior ethos: military culture and the war on terror (Abingdon: Routledge, 2007), p. 98.
76. See e.g. 'This is no way to treat a soldier. Special report: victims of war, part one', Independent on Sunday, 18 March 2007.
77. See e.g. Alexi Mostrous and Ben Macintyre, 'British soldiers victims of a mental conflict without end', The Times, 28 March 2009.
78. Edward M. Spiers, Army and society, 1815-1914 (London: Longman, 1980).
79. Hannah Fletcher, 'Soldier forced to sleep in his car after hotel refuses him a room', The Times, 5 Sept. 2008.
80. Jenny Percival, 'Two arrested after protest at soldiers' homecoming parade in Luton', Guardian, 11 March 2009.
81. Interview with serving captain in the British Army, June 2007.
82. Interview with serving captain in the British Army, June 2007.
83. Steven Morris, 'Alleged British army deserter Joe Glenton appears at court-martial', Guardian, 3 Aug. 2009.
84. This dilemma is explored in Jeff McMahan, Killing in war (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 97.
85. Anthony Forster, Armed forces and society in Europe (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. 112.
86. Jorge Mendonca, 'If we no longer respect our fighting men and women, the future of Britain itself is in peril', Daily Mail, 3 Oct. 2007; Dannatt, address to IISS, 21 Sept. 2007.
87. Interview with serving sergeant in the British Army, May 2007.
88. Interview with serving captain in the British Army, June 2007.
89. Interview with serving sergeant in the British Army, May 2007.
90. Dannatt, address to IISS, 21 Sept. 2007; Sarah Sands, 'The brave wear a uniform, the coward wears a suit', Independent on Sunday, 9 March 2008.
91. Andrew Roberts, 'Home support for armed forces is palpable', Sunday Telegraph, 9 March 2008.
92. Davies et al., Report of inquiry into national recognition of our armed forces, p. 3.
93. Strachan, 'Civil-military "gap"', p. 44.
94. John Allen Williams, 'The military and society: beyond the post-modern era', Orbis52: 2, 2008, pp. 199-216; Hoffman, 'Dereliction of duty redux?', p. 230; Robert D. Kaplan, 'Modern heroes', Wall Street Journal, 4 Oct. 2007.
95. James Burk, 'The military's presence in American society, 1950-2000', in Peter D. Feaver and Richard H. Kohn, eds, Soldiers and civilians: the civil-military gap and American national security (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001), p. 273.