The Militarisation of Behaviours
Social Control and Surveillance in Poland and Ireland
About the Book
The Militarisation of Behaviours
Discover how historical military influences shape state control over citizens in "The Militarisation of Behaviours." This book delves into the concept of the militarisation of behaviours, where states treat their citizens like soldiers, blurring the lines between civilian and military life.
Imagine a society where the boundaries between civilian and military life are blurred, and citizens are treated more like soldiers than individuals. This book explores how emergency legislation normalised this control in the twentieth century, focusing on the fascinating and disturbing case study of post-WWII Poland under communist rule. It reveals how emergency legislation, initially intended for times of crisis, was gradually normalised and used to exert control over the population for decades. The book also compares the impact of such approach on the Republic of Ireland, offering insights into current social and political processes in Poland, Ireland, and beyond, especially with the rise of the (far) right.
Rooted in criminology and socio-legal studies, this book examines the role of Irish and Polish legislation in social and legal development, leading to the militarisation of behaviours. It highlights how states use mechanisms like bureaucracy, propaganda, military culture, emergency laws, surveillance, and professionalisation to enforce uniformity, dependency, and obedience among citizens.
What You Will Discover Inside:
How governments use the process of the militarisation of behaviours as a tool for mass social control.
The key elements of this process, including propaganda, surveillance, and the manipulation of language and culture.
A detailed examination of how this process unfolded in post-WWII Poland and its surprising parallels with Ireland.
The chilling connection between state-sanctioned actions and "crimes of the powerful".
A framework for understanding contemporary social and political issues, including the influence of the far right.
By exploring the practical implementation of these processes, the book reveals how state-sanctioned violence and interference create barriers to freedom, resulting in what can be seen as crimes of the powerful. It provides a comprehensive look at the layers and concepts behind this phenomenon, offering valuable perspectives on social harms, justice, and control.
About the Author
Błażej Kaucz is a researcher in criminology and socio-legal studies. He completed a PhD in criminology in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at University College Cork, Ireland. Błażej is also a holder of law degrees (LL.M., LL.B.) from Wroclaw University, Poland and he is a passionate educator and confident presenter. Taught several modules at University College Cork covering topics of criminological and sociological theory associated with social control, law and development, critical criminology, crime, criminalisation, penology, the criminal justice system, human rights, and sociology of community. Błażej’s research interests revolve around the interplay between the visible and hidden elements of social life, amongst them a formulated concept of the militarisation of behaviours and more established concepts of the hidden curriculum, guilty knowledge, professionalisation, organised crime, and the criminal justice system.
Reviews
This book is original and innovative. So far, little attention was paid to the criminological literature devoted to this subject and therefore the author deserves recognition for making the effort to familiarise the readers with this issue.
–Dr. hab. Brunon Hołyst, Professor of Criminology, Warsaw Management Academy, Poland
This is an important book that offers a rare, comparative sociological-criminological analysis of Poland and Ireland, focusing on legal textbooks, using some promising analytical terms like ‘securitisation’/ ‘desecuritisation’ and the ‘guilty knowledge’ of professional experts. Taking inspiration especially from the work of Michel Foucault, but also Mikhail Bakhtin on chronotope and Victor Turner on the ritual process and liminality, the book explores the vexing question of how ideologically so different political regimes nevertheless converged on similar practices of social control, imposing as norm a certain rigid and mechanical mode of acting which, according to the author, amounted to a genuine militarisation of behaviour. Of particular interest, especially given our current situation, is the focus on the way in which emergency legislation was used, and abused, for political purposes. The book also helps to revisit the just as disturbing question of why there was a strange ‘elective affinity’ between Communism and Catholicism, first explored in the literature of ‘crowd psychology’, and also Thomas Mann.
–Arpad Szakolczai, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University College Cork, Ireland
This book is a very important contribution to critical criminology. It creates a new kind of symbolic connection between Polish criminology and the global perspective on it, especially Irish criminology. This monograph represents the author’s original way of thinking about social control and social justice within the European system of democratic countries; and it opens a new level of discussion as part of critical criminology in Europe. The author represents a new generation of Irish and Polish Criminologists looking for general trends in contemporary societies and their legal systems. Błażej Kaucz is to be congratulated for his extensive analysis of the subject.
–Christopher Czekaj, Professor of Criminology, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland
Definitions
Militarism, what is it?
"Militarism is a predisposition to seek military solutions applied to political problems and conflicts (Scott & Marshall, 2009: 472–473). Furthermore, militarisation is a process when a state applies a method resembling army operations to public sphere matters. Enloe (2004) portrays militarism as an ideology and militarisation as a socio-political process. ... Many people approaching critical military studies and related fields encounter a definitional problem which should be disentangled. It is associated with the mixing of terms: militarism and militarisation. Both suffixes-ism (-izm) and-isolation (-ization) relate to actions captured in the form of a noun. Whereas-isms can also relate to states, prin-ciples, and doctrines. A suffix-isation is forming nouns denoting the act, process, or result of doing something, or of making something (Soanes et al., 2006). Thus, language difficulties and a lack of clarity might prevent studies on militarism and militarisation from further advancement" (Kaucz 2022:145).
Militarisation, what is it?
"[M]ilitarisation is a process when a state applies a method resembling army operations to public sphere matters. Enloe (2004) portrays militarism as an ideology and militarisation as a socio-political process. Militarisation is a complex process which infuses militarism deeply into the core of society (ibid.). Whereas demilitarisation is a reversed process when the military character and influence on social spheres are eliminated or diminished (Carlton-Ford, 2017;Easton, 2017; Soanes et al., 2006)." (Kaucz 2022:145).
"Militarisation arises when a state controls a specific element of the public sphere, like army operations. It can occur when a conflict within or between nations arises (a military conflict); when a state starts purchasing weaponry (military build-up) to be prepared for that conflict (war-preparation); or when an uprising or insurgency is on the horizon (a military intervention; and militarisation of, and arming, the citizens). Enloe (2004) notes that militarisation happens most often during non-war times. As a result, it also occurs when a resolution of a conflict is sought (by employing securitisation see: Buzan et al., 1998); and when state officials are feeling uncertain of their position or safety (by utilising a military pacification; or militarisation of urban spaces [Wacquant, 2008]). Some academics (Shaw, 1991) also use this term in its narrow sense while referring to a growing presence of the military (or more precisely, the army) in the public sphere. Furthermore, words like defence and deterrence policies are used sometimes instead of militarism or militarisation (ibid.)" (ibid.:147-8).
The Militarisation of Behaviours, What Is It?
The Militarisation of Behaviours is a process used by the state to subdue its citizens.
More broadly, it "is a mass process of social control employed by the state (and less often by non-state entities) where civilians are subjected to a treatment similar to that designed for soldiers. When this process is employed, it leads sections of a society to be restrained. As a result, the militarisation of behaviours is a powerful mechanism of social control responsible for subduing citizens to the will of state officials. ... The militarisation of behaviours aims to create a level of uniformity in society, dependency on the state, and obedience. It rests on mechanisms of social control, for example, on varying forms of panopticism and discipline (like the social drill)" (Kaucz 2022:xiii).
The militarisation of behaviours is "utilised by the state when its citizens are treated by that state in a manner resembling the way the army relates to its soldiers. In other words, the militarisation of behaviours is employed to subdue a society or a part of it (or a group in the case of organisations). It is done similarly to the military regulating, restraining, and governing its soldiers" (ibid.:1).
Purchase the Book
The Militarisation of Behaviours: Social Control and Surveillance in Poland and Ireland published by Palgrave Macmillan (an imprint of Springer Nature) is now available as eBook, Softcover, or Hardcover at https://bit.ly/3DwxZsz iminology #police #crimeandjustice #lawenforcement #law #criminallaw #crime #surveillance #socialcontrol #militarysociology #sociology #criminology #militarization
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