Effecting discrimination: operational effectiveness and harassment in the British Armed Forces

Basham, Victoria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8829-5119 2009. Effecting discrimination: operational effectiveness and harassment in the British Armed Forces. Armed Forces & Society 35 (4) , pp. 728-744. 10.1177/0095327X08324762

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Abstract

In recent years, the British military has introduced a number of policies aimed at recruiting and sustaining demographically diverse armed forces. Central to these is a “zero-tolerance” approach to discrimination and harassment. However, by undertaking an “effective” reading of policies aimed at managing sexual orientation and gender diversity, and by drawing on qualitative research with members of the British forces, this article demonstrates how the military's own implementation strategies facilitate discrimination against some recruits. It concludes that although the British military is understandably keen to protect its operational effectiveness, by clinging to unreflexive claims about the nature of social cohesion, and in failing to respond to societal demands for inclusion, military officials are undermining the social legitimacy of the armed forces. By extension, they are destabilizing, rather than protecting, their capabilities.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Schools:	Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Subjects:	J Political Science > J General legislative and executive papers U Military Science > U Military Science (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	British Armed Forces; sexual orientation; gender diversity; policy; cohesion; operational effectiveness; “effective” reading.
Publisher:	SAGE
ISSN:	0095-327X
Funders:	ESRC
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2022 10:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/90320

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