Comment archive

Sunday, 13 Mar 2022
What Motivates Soldiers to Fight, asks Jon Elster

Many commentators have claimed that Russia’s military leaders must have underestimated the Ukrainians’ resilience and battle morale. This is most likely correct, but would it even have been possible for the Russian commanders to have made a more accurate estimate? There is reason to doubt that they could have done ...

Saturday, 12 Mar 2022
Fascism and Masculine Ideals - Thoughts on the Russian War in Ukraine

The renewed Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is still raging on, and our thoughts naturally turn to the ways in which we can provide assistance and aid to both the defenders and the victims. If one simultaneously wishes to take an analytical look at the broader picture, there are ...

Saturday, 6 Jul 2019
Liberia’s Women Veterans: War, roles and reintegration

Leena Vastapuu (2018) Liberia’s Women Veterans: War, roles and reintegration, London: Zed Books Ltd. Book review by Linn Marie Reklev Scholars and policy makers put increasing attention on the role of women in conflict and peacebuilding. However, women are often portrayed as “victims”, and their multiple roles in conflict are ...

Friday, 5 Jan 2018
The Soldier We See

By Julia Welland In contemporary Britain, the figure of ‘The Soldier’ is increasingly visible. S/he (although the figure is, of course, nearly always a ‘he’) appears in documentaries, in art and museum exhibitions, in Armistice Day commemorations, guarding the 2012 Olympics, in ‘boot camp’ exercise regimes, in schools, as the ...