About the Book
The Militarisation of Behaviours examines how historical military influences can become embedded and used by the state to control citizens' behaviour, termed the militarisation of behaviours. It refers to the treatment of citizens by their state in a manner resembling a treatment of soldiers by the army. The militarisation of behaviours is a process of mass social control where the state exercises its powers over the population, blurring the boundaries between a dichotomous divide of civilian and military life. This book focuses on the social process of how Polish post-WWII emergency legislation was normalised and how through it the Polish communist state (from 1943/4 until 1989) introduced and enforced the process of militarisation of behaviours. It discusses the impact of the emergency legislation on the Republic of Ireland as a comparison. It offers a useful lens to understand the social and political processes happening currently in Poland, Ireland, and elsewhere, with the increasing influence of the (far) right. This book is situated in the framework of criminology and socio-legal studies.
This study illustrates the role of the relevant Irish and Polish legislation relating to social and legal development, and how it led to the introduction of the process of the militarisation of behaviours. This 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. It consists of several elements which were discussed in the book and which broadly relate to bureaucracy, propaganda, chronotopes, military language and culture, emergency legislation, surveillance, professionalisation, and militarisation into the public sphere of life. 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). A section of this book is devoted to recreating comprehensively how this process was employed in Poland and Ireland. Chapters on Poland and Ireland are used to explain how some legislative changes were implemented and the reasons behind them. These also demonstrate how states can influence their citizens. To fully appreciate the complexity of this process, some of its layers and concepts which are in its background were discussed and explained. As a result, this book explores the value of theory relating to social harms, social justice, and crime and control in the context of the militarisation of behaviours. Focusing on the practical implementation of that process, state-sanctioned violence and interference created barriers to freedom and led to what we might view as crimes of the powerful.
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/3DwxZsziminology #police #crimeandjustice #lawenforcement #law #criminallaw #crime #surveillance #socialcontrol
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