5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Western military superiority – originating in Europe in the early modern era and culminating in the global power projection capability of the US – has had a major influence on the formation of contemporary military organisations all around the globe. A natural outcome is that non-Western professional military education (PME) organisations have adopted similar institutional models from Western powers. Commonly, these have a three-tier institutional structure, which includes cadet school, staff college, and senior level college. The concrete adaptations of the Western PME institutions in each country are shaped by the local cultures and strategic circumstances, resulting in wide and significant variation among the PME organisations across regions. Numerous studies examine PME organisations in Western countries (e.g., the USA, the UK or Germany), while few studies exist for much of the rest of the world. The proposed panel aims to take a first step in re-interpretations of the past, the present and the potential futures of PME by incorporating non-Western, comparative and emerging theoretical or methodological perspectives into PME studies. The panel primarily focuses on post-commissioning military education.

Key questions include:

• How did the PME institutions of respective countries come to be established?
• What are the best practices, strategies, and policies for building and managing effective PME systems/models?
• What is the impact of international relations, i.e., crises, wars, and defence alliances on professional military education?
• What is the impact of local conditions on PME?
• What are the prospects for the future of PME?