Harding, Jack (2021) the Role of Historical Experiences in Determining Cultural Preferences for Domestic Military Deployments in Britain and France
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Harding, Jack (2021) The role of historical experiences in determining cultural preferences for domestic military deployments in Britain and France. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/82152/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The role of historical experiences in determining cultural preferences for domestic military deployments in Britain and France Jack Harding Supervised by: Professor Beatrice Heuser and Professor Peter Jackson Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics and International Relations School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences University of Glasgow Date of Submission: September 2020 Abstract This thesis examines the role of historical experiences in guiding cultural preferences for the use of the armed forces for maintaining domestic security in Britain and France. It finds that in recent years the level of threat from Islamist terrorism faced by both states has been comparable and yet two distinct sets of strategic preferences for the use of the armed forces domestically have emerged. To understand these differences this thesis poses three core questions: first, do Britain and France’s cultural preferences for acceptance or rejection of domestic military deployments derive from the perception of the national historical experience? Second, do these cultural preferences have a constraining effect on strategic behaviour? And third, if evidence of historically-derived cultural constraint can be found, what accounts for episodes of change in strategy over time? It hypothesises that these preferences stem from their respective strategic cultures. These strategic cultures have been cultivated through a series of ‘formative moments’ in their past which constrain their behaviour in the present. Changes in strategy will occur in the event of a receptive cultural environment and a strong leader and institutions who are capable of enacting change. However, enduring cultural preferences will always be evident in strategic behaviour. This thesis addresses the subject through a unique methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative techniques. First by charting all significant domestic deployments between 1800 and 2019 and coding each deployment according to its purpose, it seeks to identify the ‘formative moments’ in Britain and France’s past that may be guiding their cultural preferences. Then, over a thousand speeches and statements from British and French policymakers at each formative moment are analysed and compared in order to trace enduring cultural preferences for the use of the armed forces domestically over time. Ultimately, the purpose of this thesis is to understand the nexus between history, culture, and behaviour and its constancy or temporality over time. After all, if the trend in the modern era towards deploying the military on the national territory to fulfil a wide variety of tasks continues, it will be essential to understand the cultural sensitives attached to domestic deployments and the conditions under which they may be deemed acceptable. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables, Figures and Charts ..................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ 11 Declaration ......................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1 - Introduction ................................................................................................... 13 1.1. Similar threat, different responses ............................................................................ 15 1.2. The role of history .................................................................................................... 19 1.3. Research question and hypotheses ............................................................................ 23 1.4. Aims, objectives, and scope of project ..................................................................... 24 1.5. Relevance of topic .................................................................................................... 26 1.6. Research structure ..................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 2 - Literature Review .......................................................................................... 33 2.1. National Styles .......................................................................................................... 34 2.2. Sociology, anthropology and the role of historical experience ................................ 36 2.3. Anthropology meets ‘national styles’ ....................................................................... 41 2.4. Strategic Culture ....................................................................................................... 42 2.4.1. First Generation ................................................................................................. 42 2.4.2. Second Generation ............................................................................................. 44 2.4.3. Third Generation ................................................................................................ 45 2.4.4. Towards a Fourth Generation? .......................................................................... 47 2.4.5. Deficiencies and enduring questions in the literature ........................................ 48 2.6. Summary of the literature ......................................................................................... 50 Chapter 3 – Methodology .................................................................................................. 53 Framework 1: Historical experience, cultural preference, behaviour nexus ............... 54 3.1. Case Selection ........................................................................................................... 55 3.3. Data gathering ........................................................................................................... 57 (1) Historical experience .............................................................................................. 57 (2) Cultural preferences ............................................................................................... 64 3.4. Content and Discourse Analysis ............................................................................... 66 (3) Behaviour ............................................................................................................... 69 3.5. Limitations to the study ............................................................................................ 70 Chapter 4 – The historical origins of Britain’s preferences for domestic military deployments. ....................................................................................................................... 73 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 73 3 4.1.1 Historical experience: Three eras of domestic deployments .............................. 79 4.1.2. Structure of the case ........................................................................................... 84 4.2. Historical Context – The War of the Three Kingdoms, 1640-1660 and its impact on modern Britain ................................................................................................................. 86 4.2.1. The Formation of the New Model Army ........................................................... 87 4.2.2. From Interregnum to Restoration ...................................................................... 89 4.2.3. The Army reconfigured: the impact on modern force structure ........................ 91 4.3. Protests, Pariahs and Police – The impact of ‘Peterloo’ ........................................... 93 4.3.1. 1819: The Peterloo Massacre ............................................................................. 94 4.3.2. Peterloo in the political rhetoric ........................................................................ 99 4.3.3. The Impact of Peterloo on Britain’s approach to civil unrest .......................... 108 4.3.4. Cultural preferences compared: Peterloo, The General Strike, and the Tottenham Riots ......................................................................................................... 114 4.3.5. At home or abroad? The impact of cultural preferences on representations of the army’s role ........................................................................................................... 120 Chapter 5 – The British Army and domestic counter-terrorism operations ............. 125 5.1. The impact