Boy Scouts No Longer: A Sociological Institutionalist Analysis of the Canadian Forces
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2008
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Abstract
This paper seeks to explain the process of institutional transformation within the armed forces of a democracy. It offers an ideational explanation for this process, which is grounded in sociological institutionalism. Specifically, it argues that one of the most important and powerful factors that can drive institutional transformation within national armed forces are radical shifts in how senior political decision-makers perceive the appropriate 'institutional role' of their military forces. To illustrate this process, this paper examines the recent and radical transformation of the Canadian Forces, from an institution structured to specialize in peacekeeping operations to an institution structured to specialize in counter-insurgency war fighting.