Page 267 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

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238 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

through line-of-sight firearms after the devel- school on the officer corps. Most impor-
opment of gunpowder (first single shot and tantly, by 1970, he saw the military being
later repeating), to weapons that could be transformed into a constabulary force,
used from ‘stand-off’ distances that did not grounded in pragmatic doctrine (Janowitz,
require direct visual contact between com- 1971). Historically, the concept of the
batants (artillery, bombs), to weapons of military was rooted in absolute doctrine. The
mass destruction (chemical, biological, and absolutist military engages in war as an
nuclear). inevitable means and a form of punishment
One consequence of this increasing lethality, and retaliation to pursue total supremacy. In
even in pre-nuclear war days, was an increas- contrast, a constabulary force is ‘continu-
ing reluctance on the part of European mili- ously prepared to act, committed to the
tary leaders to go to war, which would minimum use of force, and seeks viable
decimate their profession and destroy their international relations rather than victory’
social base (Vagts, 1959). At the same time, (Janowitz, 1960: 418). The social organiza-
there was also a growing recognition that the tion of peacekeeping, along with strategies of
limited wars of the late twentieth century deterrence, did help to control inter-state war
were no longer clashes between the conven- during the second half of the twentieth
tional military forces of nations, but rather century. However, at the same time, the
involved conflicts within a given nation, attention of the world increasingly turned to
including armed revolts, insurrections, the persistence of intra-state conflicts based
paramilitary formations, terrorism, and other on religious, racial, and ethnic differences.
forms of internal or non-state warfare
(Janowitz, 1968: 16). Franco et al. (2005)
report that the vast majority of conflicts since
World War II have been within states. Some CHANGES IN THE PEACEKEEPING
have suggested that war, in the strict sense of RESPONSE
inter-state conflict, has been in decline since
1945 (Smith, 2005; Van Creveld, 1991). Evolving as a military mission, the nature of
With the advent of nuclear weapons, two peacekeeping changed. Early ‘first-generation’
competing perspectives on war emerged peacekeeping missions starting in the mid-
among military leaders. The absolutists twentieth century involved the interposition
reflected assumptions made by the military of lightly armed (or unarmed) impartial mili-
as it emerged as a profession in the nine- tary personnel as observers between the
teenth century. They assumed that the out- forces of two conflicting nations that had
break of war was inevitable, rooted in the sought an end to their conflict and agreed to
nature of man. They emphasized the histori- the presence of third-party peacekeepers to
cal continuity of military solutions to politi- help negotiate or verify a cease-fire or a
cal problems, the permanency of war as a treaty. These missions included the United
social form, the quest for victory as the Nations Special Committee on the Balkans
desired end, and the likelihood that nuclear (UNSCOB), to ascertain whether communist
wars would be short. The pragmatists, by nations in the north of Greece were infiltrat-
contrast, emphasized the discontinuity of the ing her borders (1947), the United Nations
nuclear age from the past, the length of time Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO),
that would be required for the international to monitor cease-fires after the first Arab-
system to recover from a nuclear war, and the Israeli war in 1948, and the United Nations
absence of certainty that such a war would Military Observer Group in India and
produce peace (Janowitz, 1960: 264). Janowitz Pakistan (UNMOGIP), stationed in Kashmir
reported that between 1945 and 1960 there in 1949 to monitor the status of cease-fires
was a decline in the influence of the pragmatic (Segal, 1995). By the 1990s, new more muscular