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The CeMiSS is the organization which, under the auspices of the Ministry
of Defence, organises research on subjects of strategic nature. Founded in 1987
by a decree of the Ministry of Defence, CeMiSS carries out its work with the help
of experts in the field both military and civilian, Italian and from other countries.
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| Year |
2001 |
| ISBN |
88-88391-03-7 |
| Progr. CeMISS |
1.12 |
| Pages |
176 |
| Price |
14,46 |
| Availability |
Good |
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| The flexible officer. |
Giuseppe Caforio |
The book presents the results from a field
research carried out among 371 officer of 9 different countries, who took part
in military operations other than war (MOOTW). Findings show that seven officers
out of ten feel, from personal experience, that the functions carried out in MOOTW
require more and different preparation from what was given them. The shortcomings
in professional preparation are essentially perceived in relation to three basic
requirements: Understanding people, knowing the moods of one’s men, and knowing
the rules for sorting out delicate political and military situations. Increased
experience in missions of this type is accompanied by growing awareness of shortcomings
in one’s basic preparation: it is an awareness gained in the field, faced with
the concrete difficulties of interaction with ther other social actors and as
data from experience is gradually acquired. Therefore, there is a concrete relation
between the perceived insufficiencies of preparation and the difficulties that
the interviewed officers say they came up against with the other social actors
present on the scene. Concretely, the more the officer reports difficulty in relating
to one social actor or another, the more he says he sees shortcomings in his basic
training. Lastly, findings show that a military training closer to university
standards, particularly centred on the behavioural sciences, seems to produce
cadres who find themselves more at ease in handling the tasks proper to MOOTW.
Data and trends of change in the military mind are reported as well.
Giuseppe Caforio, is retired general of the Italian Army: he is president
of the research Commettee 01 “Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution” of the International
Sociological Association, as well as member of several other international and
Italian instituts of research. He has a Law degree, a Political Science degree,
with a (published) thesis on military sociology, a Master in Communication Science.
His main publications include: Sociologia e forze armate (1987); Ufficiali e società
with P. Del Negro (1988); (ed.) The military profession in Europe (1994); The
Sociology of the Military, (1998); (ed.) The European Cadet: Professional Socialisation
in Military Academies, (1998): (ed.) The European Officier: A Comparative View
on Selection and Education (2000). |
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