Militarization and the Global Rise of Paramilitary Culture : Post-Heroic Reimaginings of the Warrior

This edited book demonstrates a new multidimensional comprehension of the relationship between war, the military and civil society by exploring the global rise of paramilitary culture. Moving beyond binary understandings that inform the militarization of culture thesis and examining various national and cultural contexts, the collection outlines ways in which a process of paramilitarization is shaping the world through the promotion of new warrior archetypes. It is argued that while the paramilitary hero is associated with military themes, their character is in tension with the central principals of modern military organization, something that often challenges the state’s perceived monopoly on violence. As such paramilitization has profound implications for institutional military identity, the influence of paramilitary organizations and broadly how organised violence is popularly understood Contents 5 1 Militarization and the Paramilitarization of Culture: Accounting for New Civil–Military Complexity 7 1.1 De-Militarized Cultural Analysis 8 1.2 Militarization 11 1.3 Paramilitarization 13 1.4 Militarization and Paramilitarization in Context 15 References 18 Part I Military Performance 21 2 Clausewitz and Military Politics: Theoretical Reflections on a Strong Program Approach to War and the Military 22 2.1 How Militaries Influence Societies 24 2.2 How Societies Influence Militaries 28 2.3 A Clausewitzian Foundation for the Sociology of War 30 2.4 Military Politics: The Strong Program Approach 34 2.5 Conclusions 38 References 38 3 Recasting the Warrior: The Victoria Cross for Australia and Contemporary Civil–Military Relations 42 3.1 Introduction 42 3.2 Australian Civil–Military Relations 43 3.3 Projecting Recipients 45 3.3.1 Simultaneous Conceptualisation 45 3.3.2 Altruism 47 3.3.3 History 49 3.3.4 Civil–Military Gap 52 3.4 Conclusions 53 References 55 Part II Paramilitary Gaze 60 4 Homegrown Heroes and New War Warriors: Post-9/11 Depictions of Warfare in Call of Duty 61 4.1 Past 63 4.2 Present 66 4.3 Future 70 4.4 Conclusion 74 References 76 5 Turkish Desecularisation and Reimagining the Warrior at Çanakkale (Gallipoli): A Social Performance Analysis of the 57th Regiment Re-Enactment March 79 5.1 Islamist Çanakkale Narratives: Then and Now 81 5.2 March for the 57th Regiment 87 5.3 Petite Narratives and Islamic National Commemoration 92 References 94 Part III Paramilitary Group Frames 97 6 Radicalisation and Paramilitary Culture: The Case of Wanndy’s Telegram Groups in Malaysia 98 6.1 Introduction 98 6.2 Background 99 6.3 Radicalisation and Paramilitary Culture 102 6.4 Telegram: A Convenient Eco-System for Radicalisation 108 6.4.1 Wanndy: The Administrator of Telegram Groups 108 6.4.2 Wanndy’s Telegram Groups 109 6.4.3 Radicalisation and Exposure to Paramilitary Culture 111 6.5 Conclusion 121 References 122 7 Re-Narrating Militarisms in the Colombian Conflict: Medellín’s Museo Casa de la Memoria 126 7.1 Cultural Militarism and Narrative Resistance 129 7.2 Re-Narrating the Colombia Conflict Through the Exhibit Medellín: Violence and Resistance Memories 132 7.2.1 Museum Casa de la Memoria 132 7.2.2 Medellín: Violence and Resistance Memories 134 7.2.3 The Exhibit 135 7.2.4 Framing the War 137 7.2.5 Empathy and the Local Voice 141 7.3 Conclusions: Towards a Local–National Re-Narration of Colombia’s Armed Conflict 144 References 145 Part IV Overcoding Paramilitarization 150 8 Ritual and Recovery Outside of Regiment: Performing Arts in a University-Based Adjunct Wellbeing Program for Injured Soldiers 151 8.1 Deploying Arts 152 8.2 The Challenge of Injuries Outside of Deployment 154 8.3 Constructing Self@arts 155 8.4 Ritual Transformations 159 8.5 Conclusions 165 References 168 9 Epimilitary Culture: Vietnamese-American Literature and the Alternative to Paramilitary Culture 170 9.1 Introduction 170 9.2 The Demilitarization of War in Popular Culture 171 9.3 The Notion of War in Vietnamese-American Scholarship 174 9.4 New War Stories and True War Stories 176 9.5 Epimilitary Culture in Vietnamese-American Literature 178 9.5.1 Vietnamese-American Literature as War Literature 179 9.5.2 An Expanded Concept of War and the Decentering of the Military 180 9.6 The Principle Differences Between Paramilitary and Epimilitary Culture 182 9.6.1 Traits of the Central Characters 182 9.6.2 Nature of Depicted Violence 184 9.6.3 Manner of Narrative Resolution 188 9.7 Conclusion 190 References 191