Theorizing Military Power

This open session explores what role military power should have in contemporary sociological theorizing of turbulent times. Sociologists often account for militarism and the use of the military as it relates to masculinity, nationalism and populist politics, however, we know less about the multiple forms of military power, how this relates to levels of diversity within and across militaries and in civil-military relationships. While the session organizer invites submissions of all papers that centrally address the theorizing of military power, speakers might consider addressing the relative autonomy of military power from other forms of authority and how this can translate to political resistance; whether the theorizing of military power in the Cold War era can account for the subsequent rise of neoliberal logics and consumer capitalism; how dominant sociological theories neglect military power or make assumptions about the relationship between the military and the civil sphere, including how this might reflect a continuing Eurocentric bias in sociological thought.