The authors present the findings of ten years of research concerning binational military cooperation in the First German-Netherlands Corps, founded in 1995. The start of this binational corps was accompanied with some worries because the interaction between Germans and Dutch in the populations at large was not considered to run smoothly. The authors focus on a well-known hypothesis from intercultural theory, claiming that frequency of contact is likely to foster feelings of sympathy. The data demonstrate that during the ten years of study the servicemen and -women of both nations have converged in their feelings of sympathy toward one another; in addition, the general hypothesis is confirmed. Servicemen and -women of other NATO member states entering the corps's headquarters since 2003 may help to create a more international atmosphere, in which the integration model of cultural interaction (instead of the assimilation and separation model) stands relatively more chance of success.
Schröder states that “it will be very difficult to find two other nations where binational cooperation in the daily practice has proven to be as successful.” R.F.M. Schröder , “ DEU/NLD Common Army Vision on Future Cooperation ,” Militaire Spectator174, 12 (2005): 521 . Regarding the headquarters in Muenster, Schröder is perhaps right, but conditions during operations are different, as we will see in the text below.
2.
Joseph Soeters and René Moelker , “ Putting the Collaboration to the Test, Münster and Kabul ,” in True Love. A Study in Integrated Multinationality within German-Netherlands Corps , ed. Uli vom Hagen, Paul Klein, Rene Moelker, and Joseph Soeters ( Strausberg: Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut der Bundeswehr [FORUM International25, 2003]), 127-46 .
3.
It was the first major operation for the Germans, after having deployed troops to Kosovo on a smaller scale.
4.
Kieran Setiya , “ Hume's Treatise: A Glossary,” http://www.pitt.edu/~kis23/1310-Jan12.pdf .
5.
Charles Horton Cooley , Human Nature and the Social Order ( New York: Charles Scribner's Sons , 1902).
6.
Jürgen Habermas , On the Pragmatics of Communication ( Cambridge , UK: Polity Press , 2003).
7.
Lutsen, B. Jansen , Bekend en onbemind. Het beeld van Duitsland en Duitsers onder jongeren van vijftien tot negentien jaar ( Den Haag , Netherlands: Instituut Clingendael , 1993).
8.
Jansen, Bekend en onbemind ; Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven , “ Ontstaan en functie van vooroordelen en stereotypen,” in Nederland en Duitsland. Elkaar kennen en begrijpen, ed. Johannus Vis and Gephard Modenhauer ( Assen , Netherlands: Van Gorcum , 2000), 290-302; Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven , “ Nederlanders over Duitsers: enkele empirische gegevens,” in Nederland en Duitsland. Elkaar kennen en begrijpen, ed. Johannus Vis and Gephard Modenhauer ( Assen , Netherlands: Van Gorcum , 2000), 303-12.
9.
Geert Hofstede and Gert Jan Hofstede , Cultures and Organisations. Software of the Mind ( New York: McGraw-Hill , 2005), 324.
10.
Joseph Soeters, Ethnic Conflict and Terrorism : The Origins and Dynamics of Civil Wars ( New York : Routledge , 2005).
11.
Gordon, W. Allport , The Nature of Prejudice ( Cambridge, MA: Addison Wesley , 1954), 9.
12.
Oudenhoven , “Ontstaan en functie van vooroordelen en stereotypen.”
13.
See also Festinger's social comparison theory in Leon Festinger , A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance ( Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press , 1962).
14.
See also Robert K. Merton , “Contributions to the Theory of Reference Group Behavior” and “Continuities in the Theory of Reference Groups and Social Structure,” in Social Theory and Social Structure ( New York: Free Press , 1968): 279-440.
15.
Ibid. , 480-83.
16.
For example, when white teachers consider black students to be lazy and unintelligent, these students will not perform as well as they otherwise would.
17.
Allport , The Nature of Prejudice.
18.
In Moelker and Soeters (2003), the data were weighed, therefore the results presented here differ slightly from the previous publication. See René Moelker and Joseph Soeters , “ Sympathy, Stereotypes and the Contact Hypothesis ,” in True Love: A Study in Integrated Multinationality within 1 (GE/NL) Corps , ed. Uli vom Hagen, Paul Klein, Rene Moelker and Joseph Soeters ( Strausberg , Germany: Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut der Bundeswehr , FORUM International25, 2003), 15-42 .
19.
These “multinationals” entered the German-Netherlands Corps only as recently as 2003.
20.
This is why Susan Fiske elaborates on the concept of subtle discrimination. Many of our images are not meant to discriminate between people, and they are not meant to stereotype people. But in a subtle way they do. Susan T. Fiske , Social Beings: A Core Motives Approach to Social Psychology ( New York: Wiley , 2004 ).
21.
Oudenhoven , “ Nederlanders over Duitsers: enkele empirische gegevens.”
22.
Paul Klein , Axel Rosendahl Huber , and Wolfgang Frantz , Das Deutsch-Niederländische Korps im Meinungsbild seiner Soldaten ( Strausberg , Germany: SOWI-Arbeitspapier N° 97, 1996 ).
23.
Paul Klein , Axel Rosendahl Huber , and Wolfgang Frantz , Zwei Jahre Deutsch-Niederländische Korps ( Strausberg , Germany: Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut der Bundeswehr , SOWI-Berichte vol. 67, 1999).
24.
Hofstede , Cultures and Organisations.
25.
Axel Rosendahl Huber , Paul Klein , and Joseph Soeters , “ Het Duits-Nederlandse Legerkorps. Meningen en ervaringen van Duitse en Nederlandse militairen ,” Militaire Spectator, 168 (1999): 134-44 .
26.
Klein , Zwei Jahre Deutsch-Niederländische Korps.
27.
Irene van der Kloet , Joseph Soeters , and Karin Sanders , “ Development of trust among soldiers on a deployment mission ,” Small Wars and Insurgencies15, 2 (2004): 131-57 ; Irene van der Kloet , A Soldierly Perspective on Trust . ( Breda , Netherlands: Royal Netherlands Military Academy , 2005).
28.
vom Hagen , True Love.
29.
John W. Berry , Jean Phinney , David Sam , and Paul Vedder , Immigrant Youth in Transition: Acculturation, Identity and Adaptation Across National Contexts . ( Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates , 2006).
30.
Joseph Soeters , Christina Poponete , and Joseph Page, Jr. , “ Culture's consequences in the military,” in Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat, ed. Th. W. Brit , A. B. Adler , and C. A. Castro ( Westport, CT: Praeger , 2006), 13-34.
31.
Joseph Soeters , Delphine Resteigne , René Moelker , and Philippe Manigart , “ Smooth and Strained International Military Co-operation ,” in Cultural Interoperability: Ten Years of Research into Cooperation in the First German-Netherlands Corps , ed. Uli vom Hagen , Rene Moelker, and Joseph Soeters ( Strausberg , Germany: Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut der Bundeswehr (FORUM International27, 2006), 131-61 .
32.
Berry , Immigrant Youth in Transition.
33.
Joseph Soeters , Delphine Resteigne , René Moelker , and Philippe Manigart , “ Smooth and Strained International Military Cooperation.”
