Zarkov, Dubravka

Dubravka Zarkov

Changing the soldier or changing the military? The case of the Dutch armed forces

1 June 2001Feature Karen Joachim and Dubravka Zarkov

As recruiters scramble to keep up the numbers in professionalised armed forces, they are increasingly trying to lure formerly undesirable groups. But Karen Joachim and Dubravka Zarkov think the emphasis on "integration" reveals the need to go beyond cosmetics and make deeper changes in military culture.

During the last ten years, the Dutch Armed Forces have seen dramatic change, of two kinds. First, instead of an army of conscripts, it has become a professional army. Second, like its counterparts in other European countries, it is no longer supposed to be defending the “free world” from a communist/Russian threat, but to be a peace-keeping army. Taken together, these two changes are seen as requiring a mobile and highly trained professional army, ready to go and perform peace-keeping…