Dissertation: Wooten, Gender Integration into the Military

Wooten, Jeff. Gender Integration into the Military: A Meta-Analysis of Norway, Canada, Israel, and the United States, EdD Dissertation, University of New England, 2015.
 
URL: http://dune.une.edu/theses/33/
 
Abstract

Over the past 15 years, the Global War on Terrorism has necessitated an examination of the military’s practices and the way that they meet the complexities of new and different types of war and tactics. Vital to this examination are policies related to the inclusion and deployment of women in combat. Burba stated war is not a setting for social testing, but the American Military must embrace the social subtleties of gender differences in an effort to meet the Armed Services requirement for an ever-changing asymmetrical battlefield. This study compares and contrasts the American current policy divergent to three other countries’ policies that have successfully integrated women into combat: Norway, Canada, and Israel. Through this examination, an opportunity to recognize gaps in training and procedural information that are most important to the successful implementation in the United States is revealed. The scientific data, although supporting the fact that physiological differences exist between men and women, were not supported in the argument that all women should be excluded from combat units. In all case studies, it was found that women who volunteered for combat assignments performed equally as well as their male counterparts without degradation of operational readiness or a lower unity of cohesion. However, I was not surprised that the leaders of the three counties observed that the successful integration of women into combat units is not about changing a culture. It is simply a leadership issue.

 

 

New Article: Samuel-Azran et al, In-Group Terrorists in Israeli and Norwegian Press

Samuel-Azran, Tal, Amit Lavie-Dinur, and Yuval Karniel. “Narratives Used to Portray In-Group Terrorists: A Comparative Analysis of the Israeli and Norwegian Press.” Media, War & Conflict 8.1 (2015): 3-19.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1750635214531106

 

Abstract

Studies of US and UK media reveal that the press adheres to a dichotomous religion-based us/them worldview that portrays Muslims as terrorists but ‘repairs’ the image of Jews and Christians as criminals, creating concerns that the Western media promotes a clash-of-civilizations thinking pattern. To examine whether this pattern is representative of other Western democracies, the authors analyzed Israeli press coverage of Jewish settlers’ attacks against Palestinians (N = 134) and Norwegian press coverage of Anders Breivik’s 2011 attacks (N = 223). Content analysis reveals that the Israeli and Norwegian media labeled all the perpetrators ‘terrorists’, the attacks ‘terror’, and the motivation as ‘ideology’ rather than solely mental. The perpetrators – all subscribing to right-wing ideology – were not vindicated despite being Jewish or Christian. Beyond weakening the clash-of-civilizations notion that terrorism discourse in the West is necessarily religion-related, the findings highlight that the US press was ironically more eager than the Israeli media to ‘repair’ the image of Jewish perpetrators. The authors discuss the implications of our findings and suggest directions for future studies of biases in terrorism discourse.

Conference: Israel and the Foreign Forces? (Tel Aviv, June 20, 2013)

 

 

 

The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in collaboration with The Israeli Model UN Association (IMUNA)

Israel and the Foreign Forces?

Thursday, 20 June 2013 at INSS, Tel Aviv 15:00-18:00

 

 

A Middle East in flux induces taking in hand Israel’s national security and the United Nation’s Peace Keeping Operations that have been stationed in and around Israel for some time. Each session spotlights a different aspect to stimulate a holistic scrutiny.

Opening remarks:

Dr Glen Segell, Institute for National Security Studies.

Session 1: Stock Taking UN Peace Keeping Operations

Chair: Ms Chaya Esther Pomeranz, President, The Israeli Model UN Association, IMUNA.

Dr Avi Beker, The Diplomacy of UN Forces, Tel Aviv University.

Dr Chen Kertcher, From Ploughshares to Swords, Tami Steinmetz Center of Peace Research, and IDC.

Session 2: A Political-Military Perspective of UN Peace Keeping Operations

Chair: Brigadier General (Res.) Udi Dekel, Deputy Director, Institute for National Security Studies.

Ms Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, Deputy-Director UN Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel.

Brigadier General Asaf Urion, (Head of IDF Strategic Planning Division.

Major General Paolo Serra, Italy, UNIFIL, Head of Mission and Force Commander.

Colonel Patrick Gauchat, Switzerland, UNTSO Deputy Chief of Staff.

Session 3: A View from Contributing Countries to UN Peace Keeping Operations

Chair: Ambassador Oded Eran, Former Director, Institute for National Security Studies.

H.E. Pjer Simunovic, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia.

H.E. Breifne O’Reilly, Ambassador of the Republic of Ireland.

H.E. Generoso D.G. Calonge, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines.

H.E. Vebjørn Dysvik, Chargé d’affaires / Minister Counselor, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway.

Address:

Brigadier General Shlomo Brom (Ret.), Institute for National Security Studies, Potential International Involvement in Arrangements with the Palestinians.

Closing Remarks:

Major General (Res.) Amos Yadlin, Director, Institute for National Security Studies.

 

Conference Location: The Institute for National Security Studies, 40 Haim Levanon Street, Tel Aviv, This Conference will be held in English and is open to the public. The number of seats is limited. The program is subject to change. Attendance to the conference is free of charge. Parking is available at the Tel Aviv University public parking lots.

 

 

 

Submitted by Glen Segell.