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This paper serves to present the Swiss data in the framework of the international project “Civil–Military Gap” of ERGOMAS Working Group “Military Profession”. Its theoretical basis has been developed in a common working paper (Jelusic, Caforio, Haltiner, Moelker, & Szvircsev Tresch, 2003) and will be presented in a more detailed way in a forthcoming common cross-national analysis. The main research hypothesis and its implied research questions refer to the existence of a growing cultural gap between the military and its parent democratic society: Is there such a gap between the armed forces, mainly its professional bodies and democratic society? If yes, what is the nature of that gap? According to the planning of the research project, the following research steps are carried on in the participating countries: (1) investigate the political culture of future (civilian and military) elites by simultaneously surveying cadets at military academies and students at civilian universities; (2) carry out semi-structured interviews with present elites (an expert survey) in order to assess changes in civil–military relations over time; and (3) elaborate and compare results at cross-national level and compare and contrast them with data from the American (Feaver, Kohn, & Cohn, 2001) research. This paper first outlines some peculiarities of the Swiss military system, considering them as somewhat important for the question of the nature of a possible civil–military gap. It then presents the methodological procedure and the main findings of Switzerland.

Purpose – This article describes a theoretical model that allows understanding, explaining, and measuring the perceived organizational effectiveness of multinational coalition operations’ headquarters.

Design/methodology/approach – The proposed model is based on subject matter experts’ opinions and on existing general and military models of organizational effectiveness. It is tailored to the particular case of coalition operations’ headquarters.

Findings – The model includes input factors such as structure and processes, people and organizational culture as well as the operative and official goals of the organization. It especially emphasizes the degree of fit, or alignment, among them.

Originality/value – This comprehensive model provides a solid basis for (a) capturing the perceived effectiveness of people deployed in such headquarters, (b) for determining influencing factors in order to identify barriers and, if required, (c) for deducing improvement opportunities for organizational effectiveness of these coalition operations’ headquarters.

Purpose – The present study addresses: First, which traditions are currently lived in the Swiss Armed Forces? Second, which traditions are viewed in positive or negative terms and why is this so? And finally, which traditions have disappeared and which are wished for?

Methodology/approach – Two separate surveys were conducted by the authors of this study in an attempt to answer these questions. For the first survey, qualitative interviews were conducted with 50 professional and militia military commanders in order to get the internal perspective. For the second survey, a representative sample of 1,200 Swiss voters was interviewed in an attempt to get the external perspective.

Findings – The main findings show that there are few formal traditions in the Swiss Armed Forces. The republican self-concept and the decentralized political system in Switzerland have significantly influenced the meaning of traditions and their practice. Moreover, traditions mainly serve to integrate cadres and soldiers into the military. The majority of traditions is informal or a combination of formal (top-down) and informal (bottom-up) traditions. Lost traditions not only fell victim to structural changes, but their purpose was also questioned by commanders. Two major military reforms as well as societal change are the main reasons for the disappearance of traditions in the Swiss Armed Forces. The results show a high degree of congruence with the qualitative survey. In short, the Swiss population generally views military traditions in favorable terms. In particular, it endorses traditions that serve to foster a sense of community and impart knowledge. However, traditions that stress manhood and bravery are strongly rejected.

Research limitations/implications – The approach could be applied to other cases. Case studies may be generalized in a conceptual sense.

Originality/value of paper – Case study with broader practical and research implications, invites international comparative research.

Many European nations today are willing to give up conscription system. In some other countries a more or less heated debate on maintaining or abandoning conscription has begun. Those countries that hold conscription have significantly reduced the share of conscripts in their armed forces. In our paper, we will argue and demonstrate that conscription has in fact had its day in most European nations. The data base for this paper is twofold. On one hand, we base ourselves on data from the annually published Military Balance of the London International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). On the other hand, we base ourselves on an expert survey among European countries that was conducted in 2001 and has been updated in the year 2005. One major reason for the move from conscript armies to all-volunteer forces seems to be due to the geopolitical changes which have taken place since the end of the Cold War. Another reason is the increasing number of regional conflicts and the ensuing operations abroad. Thirdly, Europe is undergoing a significant social change with an increasing pluralization of life styles and value cultures. The continuing individualization diminishes the willingness for an unconditional commitment to the state. This leads us to the aspect of burden-sharing equality. Where only a constantly diminishing minority of eligible and able young men is drafted, the issue of who has to serve and who does not becomes significant and can produce massive pressure to abolish conscription.

The researchers’ first contact for the project on civil–military relations began in 2001. The empirical phase of the research started in autumn of 2003 and ended in 2005. The study was carried out on two levels of empirical investigation: The first was constituted by future elites, represented by civilian students and military cadets. The research among civilian students was limited to three faculties in order making an empirical examination manageable. All in all 3,015 persons from 13 countries have been interviewed. The second level of investigation was constituted by interviewing a sample of current elites through an expert questionnaire.The questionnaire employed for the survey of future elites is reported in Annex 1.

Switzerland is characterized by the smallness of its territory (41,000km²) as well as by its considerable ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. This combination of small size and diversity has had a strong influence on Swiss politics and the Swiss militia army. There has always been a pressure to take into consideration many different interests in political decision making. It is not primarily theoretical considerations that have been decisive for the army format (model) and the civil–military relations but rather the political and historical conditions of the founding of the Swiss Federation. These circumstances are the principles of federalism on the one hand and the century-old tradition of the citizen militia in connection with a deeply rooted distrust of military professionalism on the other. In addition, the neutrality of Switzerland plays an important role as well.

Since the end of the Cold War, women's integration in the armed forces has been an issue of increasing interest in Europe. The full integration of women into the armed forces is decided on at the divide between voluntary and compulsive service. There is no big civil–military gap in the approval given that military services were mandatory for women. If service is optional, however, there is a clear civil–military gap to be seen in most countries. The differences between the countries, however, must be taken into account as well. There is no standard European attitude concerning the integration of women into the armed forces.

Since the end of the Cold War, armed forces have been busier than ever before. This necessarily led to an increase in cooperation between national armed forces. It also produced cultural and political challenges, which influence both the success and the effectiveness of military operations abroad.

In this respect, the views of military personnel regarding the advantages and pitfalls in multinational missions may be of interest to us. In an attempt to provide answers to these questions, nine high-ranking officers from European countries were interviewed during a course at the NATO Defense College in Rome in late January 2007.

This book is a report of cross-national research on the civil–military cultural differences in democratic societies, particularly centred on the attitudes of national elites, here considered as being mainly composed of professionals.Our research is limited to the democratic countries: This limit is grounded in the consideration that the cultural dynamics, especially in civil–military relations, of countries with non-democratic regimes are completely different.The initial project, written up and published in the ERGOMAS and RC01 newsletters, was later discussed at several conferences, and subsequently elaborated in a restricted working group.Researchers investigated a sample of cadets at military academies and their generational peers at civilian universities (“future elites”). An expert survey was also employed to sample “present elites”, both civilian and military.The book is therefore a report of the cross-national research on the civil–military cultural gap in democratic societies. It is divided into three parts: the first is devoted to describing the project's theoretical framework and the methodology used in the field research. The second part, deals with the results of the research on the main survey themes. The third part is aimed at illustrating the national specificities to the reader for better understanding of the results of the cross-national comparison. Finally, the last chapter presents a comparison between the responses of the two interviewed elites, present and future, and an attempt to draw a few conclusions.

The aim of this chapter is to present and discuss the theoretical framework that the group has set up for the research presented here. We deal here with the following topics:•a clarification of the general concept of culture adopted by us, and especially of culture of democratic countries•the concept of military culture, along with its subcultures, and the process of change in its dimensions of de-militarisation of societies and re-militarisation of the militaries•a discussion on the possibility of a cross-national research on the subject.Discussion leads us to realise the possibility and the convenience of a research as such. Therefore, we materialise our intent to carry on an empirical research on the civil–military cultural differences in Europe in comparison with results already obtained for the U.S. (but it can be employed in non-European countries too, where living conditions can be assumed to be that of all modern democratic societies).In order to do that, we agreed with several guidelines for our research project, i.e., one basic assumption and three working hypothesis.