Risks and Fallacies of Expanding New Roles to the Military: The Case of the Spanish Emergency Military Unit; A Research Note
Dados Bibliográficos
AUTOR(ES) | |
---|---|
AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) | University of Barcelona, Spain, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany, and University of Granada, Spain, |
ANO | 2024 |
TIPO | Artigo |
PERIÓDICO | Armed Forces and Society |
ISSN | 0095-327X |
E-ISSN | 1556-0848 |
EDITORA | Annual Reviews (United States) |
DOI | 10.1177/0095327x231164594 |
CITAÇÕES | 2 |
ADICIONADO EM | 2025-08-18 |
Resumo
This article responds to the analysis about the Spanish Emergency Military Unit in the research note by Pérez et al. in Armed Forces & Society, which emphasizes the efficiency of the Spanish Emergency Military Unit and how it has enhanced the image of the Spanish Armed Forces. We believe that a more critical understanding of the development of this military unit is necessary, as its deployment pitfalls and the literature on civil–military relations were neglected. Consequently, four policy traps are identified: response to civilian emergencies has become a central task of the armed forces rather than an auxiliary role; behind the pragmatism of its employment, there is potential for a worsening of civil–military relations, as highlighted by the scholarly literature; there are serious inefficiencies in its organizational design, related to human and financial resources; and image improvement is an illusion, strongly conditioned by political cleavages, with potential long-term counterproductive results.