Awards

• Winner of Winner, 2023 Canadian Political Science Association Prize Honourable Mention, 2023 LMH Ling Best First Book Prize, British International Studies Association.
• Winner of Winner, 2023 Canadian Political Science Association Prize.

Overview

"In the past, it was assumed that men, as good citizens, would serve in the armed forces in wartime. In the present, however, liberal democratic states increasingly rely on small, all-volunteer militaries deployed in distant wars of choice. While few people now serve in the armed forces, our cultural myths and narratives of warfare continue to reproduce a strong connection between military service, citizenship, and normative masculinity.In Support the Troops, Katharine M. Millar provides an empirical overview of ""support the troops"" discourses in the US and UK during the early years of the global war on terror (2001-2010). As Millar argues, seemingly stable understandings of the relationship between military service, citizenship, and gender norms are being unsettled by changes in warfare. The effect is a sense of uneasiness about the meaning of what it means to be a ""good"" citizen, ""good"" person, and, crucially, a ""good"" man in a context where neither war nor military service easily align with existing cultural myths about wartime obligations and collective sacrifice. Instead we participate in the performance of supporting the troops, even when we oppose war--an act that appears not only patriotic and moral, but also apolitical. Failing to support the troops, either through active opposition or a lack of overt supportive actions, is perceived as not only offensive and inappropriately political, but disloyal and dangerous. Millar asserts that military support acts as a new form of military service, which serves to limit anti-war dissent, plays a crucial role in naturalizing the violence of the transnational liberal order, and recasts war as an internal issue of solidarity and loyalty. Rigorous and politically challenging, Millar provides the first work to systematically examine ""support the troops"" as a distinct social phenomenon and offers a novel reading of this discourse through a gendered lens that places it in historical and transnational context."

Full Product Details

9780197642337

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Reviews

Katharine Millar's carefully researched study makes me more curious than ever about how civic 'obligation' is militarized by multi-pronged, even if fragmented, gendered public discourse. Her attention to distinct historical moments also has sharpened my awareness of the political impact of turning state soldiers first into 'our boys' and then into 'the troops.' Clearly, Millar reveals, producing a militarized citizenry takes a lot of work. * Cynthia Enloe, author of Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War * In today's liberal democracies, good citizens always 'support the troops.' Millar cleverly unpacks the layers of meaning, and the many contradictions, embedded in that simple, ubiquitous slogan. This book should be widely read not only by those troubled by contemporary expressions of militarism, but also by all students of liberalism and democratic citizenship. * Ronald R. Krebs, author of Fighting for Rights: Military Service and the Politics of Citizenship * This important and timely contribution gets to the heart of the contradictions associated with the now common-sense and widely embraced 'support the troops' rhetoric. Millar's brilliant and clearly written book demands a reckoning with the 'support the troops' trope and its role in legitimizing and upholding global war and political violence. * Megan MacKenzie, author of Beyond the Band of Brothers: The US Military and the Myth that Women Can't Fight * 'Supporting the troops' is one of the primary ways citizens of liberal democracies participate in the wars conducted in their names. Breaking important new ground, Millar shows that this relationship of apolitical sentiment conceals a politics all its own, authorizing violence around the globe and defining belonging and value at home. Millar dares readers to imagine that a more peaceful world and a more just reckoning with war may both require leaving 'support' behind. * Kenneth T. MacLeish, author of Making War at Fort Hood *

Author Information

Katharine M. Millar is an Assistant Professor of International Relations and a member of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics. She has participated in consultation processes regarding the UN Women, Peace and Security Agenda for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the US Marshall Center, the NATO Defense College, and the NATO Defence Education Enhancement Project (DEEP). She also works on policy engagement on gender and cybersecurity with institutions such as the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, Women in International Security, and Chatham House.

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