Discretion and military frontline workers
Investigating civil-military relations policies in Afghanistan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5724302 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lene Ekhaugen (Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1394-1417 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Small Wars and Insurgencies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-2318 • E-ISSN: 1743-9558 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09592318.2021.1980185 |
| OpenAlex | W3200988942 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
This article explores how military ‘frontline workers’ use their discretion to interpret and then comply, breach or bypass policies that reach into the tactical level, and why. Based on extensive primary sources including in-depth interviews, end-of-tour reports and data from records, the case study explores the implementation of policies on civil-military relations by military commanders in the Norwegian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan in 2005–2012. This article finds that the commanders used their considerable discretion to implement policies that parted from national directives. In doing so, the Norwegian military strove to align their approach with close allies and NATO and became actual policy-makers. This article contributes to the debate on how western militaries behave at the tactical level by employing the concept of ‘discretion’
Civil–military relations · Discretion · Military justice · Norwegian · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Military History and Strategy · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration
Understanding street-level bureaucracy
Street-Level Bureaucracy
Military Cultures in Peace and Stability Operations
Divided We Stand
A Clash of Mindsets? An Insider's Account of Provincial Reconstruction Teams
Empire Lite Revisited
Bureaucracy Does Its Thing
On Frontline Workers as Bureau-Political Actors
Revisiting Lipsky
Mind the Gap
Learning from Afghanistan
Comprehensive approaches, diverse coherences
Soldiers drawn into politics? The influence of tactics in civil-military relations
Bureaucratic Politics, Role Conflict, and the Internal Dynamics of US Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |