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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a special issue which looks into how militarization can be seen as an entity from which international business, management and organization can or cannot glean potentially useful lessons.

Five papers have been used to give a suitable basis for the reconceptualisation and recontextualisation of the military and militarization in relation to international business.

Several key tasks are achieved in rephrasing the issues of militarization in relation to international business. A wide national and cultural span is covered.

In developing and assembling this collection of papers claim cannot be laid to have answered issues on militarization, ground has been laid and reference points provided for a much needed wider critical debate.

This conceptual paper is offered in place of a systematic analysis of militarization in organizations and the wider world. It proceeds on the understanding that militarization implies deep historical tendencies that are not easy to simply avoid, especially where one wishes to observe or to analyse phenomena systematically.

This paper seeks out alternative means of engagement with references to the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, the critical theory of Theodor Adorno and the poetry of W.H. Auden. The departure, however, is taken in response to a brief and questionable statement by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) about world history and the position of reason since the end of the Second World War.

Historical analysis, it is argued, is essential for any understanding of processes of militarization but not adequate on its own.

Militarization means, at least in the first instance, the adoption of military modes of organization and engagement in supposedly non‐military environments. But at a deeper level, which is nonetheless manifest in both a developing technology and an increasingly technological attitude, it implies the repetition of basic attitudes to others and to life. Furthermore the very meaning of militarization is likely to undergo metamorphoses as a result of these trends.

Identifies key activities that network users can perform in order to use the network effectively. Offers recommended reading, from beginner to expert user status. Explains some commonly used terms (e.g. Turbo Gopher with Veronica!). Lists useful Internet resources.

The purpose of this paper is to undertake an analysis of the engagement of organization and management literature with military and militarization themes and issues.

An interpretive, textual literature analysis which identifies a range of international themes and issues in relation to militarization.

Identifies a modernistic‐managerialist tendency in the organization and management literature which elects to engage with military aspects and issues. This is predicated on a perceived mutual utility between the apparently separable “military” and “non‐military” domains and revolves around a series of commonly invoked texts and sets of popular cultural representations. Also recognises that organization and management commentaries influenced by critical perspectives tend not to engage so readily with military contexts and points up political commitments that might make this the case. Identifies approaches to blurring military/non‐military divides in current militaristic representations.

Provides a considered thematic and paradigmatic reflection on militarization commentary in extant organization and management literature. Identifies and explores methodological challenges in considering militarization and its pervasive effects and delineations.

Maps the organization and management literature in relation to militarization and generates a series of critical platforms from which to embark on a corresponding exploration of militarization.

Conducts a novel consideration of the limitations of management and organization literature's hitherto treatment of military and militarization aspects. Generates a fruitful set of conditions and insights for international critical organization and management approaches to military topics and issues.

The purpose of this paper is to subject the short lived “Policy Analysis Market” (PAM) – “a Pentagon betting market on terror attacks” – and media and academic reactions to it, to some critical analysis.

The paper engages sustained invocation of the relationship between simulation and representation, for the story of the Policy Analysis Market (PAM) and its demise is replete with the tension between the two. It interrogates a range of accounts of the (un)timely demise of PAM, from the fearful senators and the moralistic media who subsumed and buttressed their position to the market evangelists for whom the failure of this particular market was merely proof of the veracity of markets elsewhere.

It is found that, inter alia, PAM was not really market‐like enough and, indeed, that it duplicated in impoverished form already existing markets that pertain to its objects of interest; that it was too much a market, given that its “goods” are seemingly inappropriate for market trade; and that it exposed too much of the truth of the actual operation of existing markets via the difficulties it confronted with regard to the possibility of insider dealing.

By contextualising PAM within the so‐called war on terror of which it was part, we see in the tension between representation and simulation, tension between a singular and a manifold reality; a set of tensions which make clear the extent of the gap that must exist between cause and effect, truth and prediction. The paper concludes by joining the celebration of PAM's demise whilst yearning for a similar fate to befall the other monologues that brought it to silence.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the gendered social bonds and the everyday organisational practices and discourses of peacekeepers.

The paper is based on preliminary analysis of empirical material gathered through a seven‐month ethnography among Finnish peacekeeping officers in training and service.

In contrast to studies on homosociality, men's bonding and cohesion as a basis of optimal combat performance in military organisations, I suggest looking at the militarized social encounters, masculinities and collectives from the perspective of hybridity tensions and management. Peacekeepers' everyday practices and social structures can be interpreted as management of context‐specific power tensions.

Offers a view to everyday life of peacekeeping and builds a basis for analysing men's social relations in organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the limitations of what the field of strategic management sees as its military foundations.

Categorizes and synthesizes the critical historical approach of Michel Foucault and uses this to interrogate assumptions made about military approaches to strategy in the strategic management literature.

Suggests that there is a much broader range of military approaches to strategy than that which has been seen as a foundation stone of strategic management, and that drawing on this broader range of perspectives can encourage new thinking about strategic management.

While the historical survey upon which this hypothesis is developed is by no means exhaustive, it should encourage further investigation of different approaches to military strategy and how these might be applied to think differently in business settings.

This paper should encourage practitioners to question their often overly simplistic views of military strategy and to see this arena as a potentially rich seam of ideas that could be applied in business.

This is the first journal article to develop a clear method that draws on the many strands of Foucault's historical approach and apply this to fruitfully deconstruct a particular aspect of the field of management's assumed heritage.

Increased integration of the social studies into language arts instructional time in elementary schools, has led to a common practice of covering social studies content through use of children’s literature. Though the two content areas are covered in tandem, the primary foci are the language arts objectives. The authors suggest teaching with themed text sets, developed using carefully selected social studies topics and inquiries, not only addresses English Language Arts standards but also allows for authentic and meaningful social studies instruction. A four-step process for developing themed text sets is presented. These are: 1) identify the big idea to be explored, 2) recognize the multiple perspectives needed for a more complete story, 3) locate qualifying texts, and 4) select texts to be included. Each step is demonstrated with three controversial topics in the elementary social studies curriculum: family (Kindergarten-1), civil rights (grades 2-3), and slavery (grades 4-5) and resources are provided for locating texts. The authors illustrate the importance of developing text sets that include multiple perspectives, particularly those lesser-known stories of historical events or themes, to serve as windows or mirrors for children in developing historical content knowledge.

The racial makeup of the United States' elementary school population is in flux. While much discussion addresses the shrinking White population and the growing Latinx population, less highlighted is the growing number of individuals who identify as belonging to two or more races. This group of individuals currently constitutes the youngest, fastest growing racial subgroup. According to the US Census' projections, the two or more races population will grow by 226% between 2014 and 2060, almost double the Asian population, the next fastest growing subgroup. Though individuals with multiplicity to their racial backgrounds have existed in the United States since its inception, only recently has the government provided the option for individuals to quantify their self-reported belonging to multiple races. The resulting statistics alert educators to the fact that individuals identifying as biracial and multiracial are going to be an increasingly sizable group of students requiring, as all children do, individualized care and support within school walls. In this chapter, I draw upon Black-White biracial women's elementary school recounts to help educational practitioners understand lived experiences that inform young girls' navigations of the intersections of their Blackness and Whiteness in schooling spaces.

This paper aims to determine why so many banks do not recognize in a timely manner the inherent risks and imbalances with their risk/reward decision trade-offs, to elevate the risk conversation by embracing a more strategic and adaptive behavioral perspective and to show how an effective risk management organizational mindset is a definite solution for mitigating risk.

A direct-mail questionnaire survey was designed with the unit of analysis US community bank (under US$1.5bn in assets) and its risk performance. We used quantitative methods using previously tested scales for main constructs and FDIC bank data for performance measures. To gauge the models capacity for determining discriminatory value, results were also measured against relative peer financial performance.

The findings established that an effective risk management process that assimilates risk tolerance, risk propensity and risk practices into a managerial mindset offers a sound solution for mitigating risk. By envisioning risk as a “conceptual model of thinking” and interpreting it as a “predictable business process”, and by offering specific “decision enablers” that complement the corporate mindset, it creates a safety net against unsafe risk practices. As a result, it allows for an appreciation that current financial performance is a direct measure of management’s risk decision capabilities.

The sample size (n = 151), although adequate for our purpose was relatively small, was restricted to US community banks (less than US$1.5bn in assets) and single-informants (CEOs), thereby providing a somewhat narrow focus. Also, the survey was conducted during a slow economic period, and results may be different during a growth period. We see ripe opportunity for further research, especially related to money-center and regional banks and the next level of management as well as the behavioral influences that frame the risk/reward opportunity. Research on other industries, small businesses, etc., would be valuable because risk permeates all decisioning.

From a practitioner perspective, providing guidance on risk oversight allows for improved financial performance. The findings should be of interest to financial industry leaders, policy makers and regulators as understanding how an active orientation of risk tolerance, risk propensity and risk practices are coordinated across the organization is vital. Also, managers need to understand how characteristics of risk management manifest itself within their organization in terms of productivity and financial performance.

This paper is the first comprehensive empirical study that incorporates a conceptual approach that uses outcome history, behavioral influences and operational dimensions to identify risk management capabilities in community banks designed to increase risk/reward awareness.