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TACTICAL THOUGHT 2014 September 29 th Moreover, discussing combined operations with ranger units and mechanized units has not yet become a natural tactical, or operational art discussion. The Regular Warfare tradition lingers on; partly questioned in Irregular Warfare contexts, particularly due to international military thought developments since around 2008. We can let Antony King´s argument of trans-nationalization of military thought support this view. What does that mean in that case, for a supposed “field of Swedish military thought” Does it exist any longer at all or has it evaporated into a “western field of military thought” Has the revival of Irregular Warfare meant a diffusion of an earlier national field of military thought or do we stand on the brink of quite a new content and value distribution in an old field The field theory informs us that three dimensions or aspects are said to affect a field's presence, its structure, agents' choices and the existing opportunities. Bourdieu’s view of the future of a field is; “a field's future is at every moment inscribed in its structure, agent’s ability to realize the objective potentials as determined by the relationship between agents' abilities and the opportunities that are objectively inscribed in the field.” 207 The question of what abilities the agents have based on and what opportunities they are able to recognise, involves intellectual and practical thinking, understandings and actions. If thought on tactics in Irregular Warfare partly corresponds and contradicts the Regular Warfare perception, a struggle is probably going to take place. Will the classic principles of Small Wars be involved and recognized as a developed understanding of warfare (as in the 16 th and 17 th centuries) or will it once again be forgotten The answer goes beyond the area of Swedish military thought, but is still a part of the same. In all, we can see signs of a questioned doxa of warfare and, which is also a question of military sociology; if knowledge is sought regarding the character of thought driving structures. The agents' positions in this study and relationships to “the field of military thought”, could thus be seen as belonging to a possible subset in the total area of preferences that incorporate aspects of both Regular, Irregular, and Hybrid Warfare, or in short; Warfare. Such a possible field of military thought is likely to be found at a higher level, consisting of both strategy and tactics. The indications of a social space regarding tactics in Irregular Warfare, with a diverse preference structure, feed the question of character and structural pattern in this larger field. Diverse tactical thinking in a nowadays recognized context of conflicts, questions the strategic thinking distribution in a larger field of military thought. What social, cultural, and obviously economic and symbolic capital distributions are possible to unveil beneath articulated standpoints of military thought of strategy and tactics in general These are the kinds of larger questions that this Bourdieu inspired approach to the concepts of field theory and capital concept will inevitably lead to. 207 Bourdieu, Praktiskt förnuft, bidrag till en handlingsteori, (2004), p. 13. 121
TACTICAL THOUGHT 2014 September 29 th 5.7 Concluding Reflection This section presents a reflection on the dissertation work as a whole, in particular regarding the theoretical and methodological decisions, the result per se on statements and background factors and finally, regarding the result in conjunction with strategy, operational art and subjects outside the War Studies domain. Inspired by Bourdieu, reflection has become an interesting subject for me. 208 Adapting the principle of analysis, and becoming aware of one's biases is of course in line with field theory work. The sociological aspect, strangely almost unnoticed in military research in War Studies, opens up for several new perspectives for explanations or further hypothesis. Turning to myself, some areas of biases deserve to be observed. The first is a longer period in the military forces, working directly or indirectly with Small Wars-related activities; ranger tactics, anti-ranger tactics and different kinds of troop reconnaissance matters. A perception has been installed that the military system and career officers in general, prefer and value Regular Warfare capabilities and ideals. Knowledge or interests regarding war fighting capabilities for Irregular Warfare have been uncommon based on my own space of experience. Attitudes such as ignorance, romanticism, oversimplifications and sometimes unrealistic expectations from ranger units have on the other hand been possible to observe, also affecting parts of my horizon of expectations. A confession to a view on tactics in general as a neglected area in War Studies research and a declining competence among the officer corps has produced a desire to highlight this subject per se. Another interest, of the individual, formed by working in and with smaller unit structures, such as combat divers and naval anti-sabotage units, has paved the way for a focus on officers’ tactical thought and measuring statements and background factors. Such a combined interest for a subject, in a certain context, and the view of the importance and impact potentiality of individuals, existed before the meeting with Bourdieu. That meeting did however, conceptualize and visualize a theoretical and methodological approach which embraced my own thinking, values and preferences. A particular taste for the Bourdieu focus on practical sense and research work, the empirical digging, his criticism of the “the noble and fine culture research”, his academic journey from philosophy to sociology and his research start in Algeria during the 50s, with writings from that period on challenges of Counterinsurgency, also contributed to the choice of approach for the dissertation. Several arguments and opinions regarding the severe and profound social deconstruction following the steps of an insurgency can be found in Algerian Sketches (2013). 209 Returning to the subject of reflexivity, if one wants to examine on what basis a work really stands, aiming for a high degree of inter-subjectivity, education is needed on what is meant and how to relate it to already basic methodological courses. 208 Pierre Bourdieu, Science of Science and Reflexivity (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001). This book is recommended as an introduction of reflection and its application. 209 Pierre Bourdieu, Algerian Sketches, texts edited and presented by Tassadit Yacine. Translated by David Fernbach (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013). Examples can be found on pp. 86, 95-96, 109, 110-114, 92-103, 94-95. 122
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