Twenty-First Century Celebrations of the British Armed Forces: the Rise of the Biopolitical Military Professional
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Twenty-First Century Celebrations of the British Armed Forces: The Rise of the Biopolitical Military Professional A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2017 R. William Palmer School of Social Sciences CONTENTS List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................. 5 Abstract ................................................................................................................... 7 Declaration ............................................................................................................. 8 Copyright Statement .............................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 9 Introduction........................................................................................................... 10 Support the Troops, Oppose the War ............................................................................... 12 The Professional Solider as Liberal War Fighter .............................................................. 15 Research Question................................................................................................................. 17 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 18 Challenging Metanarratives .............................................................................................. 19 Interrogating Liberalism and its Violence ...................................................................... 20 The Research .......................................................................................................................... 21 Main Argument ...................................................................................................................... 22 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................................ 24 Chapter One – Biopolitical Militarism and The Problem of Liberal Violence ... 28 The Art of Government and Regimes of Power .............................................................. 29 Liberal Government .............................................................................................................. 34 Disciplinary Power: Normalising the Body ....................................................................... 37 Biopolitics: Normalising the Population ............................................................................ 39 Liberalism’s Necessary Violence ......................................................................................... 43 Biopolitical Militarism ........................................................................................................... 46 Militarism ............................................................................................................................ 47 Defining Biopolitical Militarism ...................................................................................... 50 Biopolitical Militarism and the Waging of War ............................................................. 51 Biopolitical Militarism and the Organisation of Violence ........................................... 53 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 57 Chapter Two – A Genealogy of the Professional Soldier: The Evolution of the Biopolitical Military Professional ......................................................................... 59 Part One: The Post-War Professional ................................................................................ 61 The Second World War: Problematisatising Liberal War ............................................ 61 The Post-War Professional Soldier: The “Saviour” of Biopolitical Militarism ........ 67 Part Two: The Problematisation of the Professional Soldier ......................................... 73 2 Legitimising the Professional Soldier: The Liberal Status of Expertise ..................... 74 The “Unbalanced” Professional: The Self-Reproduction of Expertise and the Problem of the Population ............................................................................................... 77 The Civilian Population: Beyond Disciplinary Limits .................................................. 82 The Biopolitical Military Professional and the Proto-Professionals .......................... 84 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 89 Chapter Three – British Army Professionalism in the 1990s: The War-Fighting Soldier and the Threat of the Population .............................................................. 91 Soldiering: The Blueprint for a Perfect Soldier? ............................................................... 93 The Politics of War-Fighting ........................................................................................... 95 The War-Fighting Soldier ................................................................................................. 98 The Human Dimension ...................................................................................................... 100 Beyond Disciplinary Limits: The Threat of The Population ........................................ 103 The Population and its Institutions .............................................................................. 104 The Population-as-mass.................................................................................................. 106 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 111 Chapter Four – Helmand Province and The Military Covenant: The British Army’s Struggle for Expertise ............................................................................. 113 Destroying the ability and will of the enemy to fight: Professionalism and the “struggle for expertise” in Helmand .................................................................................................. 115 Expert-Professionalism ................................................................................................... 118 Professionalism and the “Struggle for Expertise” in the United Kingdom ................ 131 Expert-Professionalism and The Military Covenant .................................................. 133 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 137 Chapter Five – Armed Forces Day and the Biopolitics of Childhood ................ 139 The Armed Forces Day National Event: Stirling 28 June 2014 .................................... 140 The Parade ........................................................................................................................ 141 Serving Personnel ............................................................................................................ 141 Veterans ............................................................................................................................ 143 The Events Field ................................................................................................................. 144 The Military Demonstrations ......................................................................................... 145 Armed Forces Day and Children ...................................................................................... 147 Armed Forces Day and ‘Youth Engagement’ ............................................................. 150 Armed Forces Day and Cadets ...................................................................................... 151 Mobilising Play ................................................................................................................. 155 3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 158 Chapter Six – Help for Heroes: How Supporting the Military Become Good for “Our” Health ....................................................................................................... 160 Help for Heroes, Military Charities and the UK Civil-Military Relationship ............. 162 Help for Heroes and The Injured Soldier ........................................................................ 165 Restoring the Injured Soldier ......................................................................................... 168 Help for Heroes Fundraising ............................................................................................. 171 Help for Heroes is Good for Your Health .................................................................. 177 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 180 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 182 Contributions ....................................................................................................................... 186 Strengths, Limitations and Future Work ........................................................................