The Role of the Military in Building Political Community: The Case of the Two German States.
Abstract
The dissertation attempts to show the role of the military in constructing new national political community in Cold-War partitioned nation-states. These previously established nations -- divided through war and forced to rebuild separate socio-political societies -- face unique situations and challenges to nation-building that differ from those of other types of nations in general. The primary thesis is that, because of the consequent need to rapidly engineer political change in these cases, the resurrection and maintenance of a military may especially contribute to the process of political socialization for creating a new and distinct political community. Moreover, since the militaries in these types of states are commonly the result of universal mass conscription, there may exist an important opportunity for influencing large numbers of young people. This thesis assumes political community is represented primarily by three vital intervening outcomes of the political socialization process: a distinct political culture, a separate cultural identity, and a perception of legitimacy for the new socio-political system. These intervening outcomes also act as indicators, or definers, of the particular political community, and, thus, are its three main components. Using a framework of analysis based upon these three outcomes/indicators, the study focuses on the two states of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War. In so doing, the case-study attempts to first identify any conscious political socialization processes implemented by the two militaries, and then tries to link these processes to the two distinct German political communities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA303490
Entities
People
- Mark N. Gose
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology