In the 1960s, Jacques van Doorn started teaching (military) sociology as a formal, scientific discipline at the Netherlands Military Academy. Since then, the way military sociology was taught at the academy has seen a great number of developments; the philosophy of education at the academy changed into an interdisciplinary and problem-based learning approach. These changes evolved into military sociology becoming a recognized perspective for analyzing military operations while being valued for its contribution to the functioning of future officers. With this shift, military sociology has developed a more pragmatic character. Even though theoretical development has sometimes been hampered by this preoccupation with pragmatics, in most times the blending of theory and praxis has stimulated the development in this field of knowledge.
Jacques van Doorn was foremost a key figure in Dutch sociology as a full professor at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1960. His position at the Military Academy from 1962 to 1972 was in fact an appointment as an extraordinary professor. The story behind the affinity of Van Doorn with military sociology is memorable and noteworthy. Motivated by personal experiences as a soldier in colonial military actions in the Netherlands-Indies, euphemistically known as "police actions," Van Doorn started a megaproject on power, aggression, violence, and coercion, which was intended to result in a PhD study. But before this project could really be completed, Van Doorn deemed it necessary to write an introduction on the military organization. After he had finished this thorough "introductionary" book, Van Doorns's PhD supervisor told him to stop because this was indeed a scholarly masterpiece and sufficed as a thesis. The data for the larger project were later published in another excellent study called Ontsporing Van Geweld (The Derailment of Violence) co-authored with Hendrix. Van Doorn's biography can be found in J.E. Ellemers, "J. A. A. van Doorn en Zijn Plaats in de Nederlanse Sociologie," in De Man en Zijn Werk, ed. J. E. Ellemers and A. Ringeling (Rotterdam : Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, 1985), xvii. Van Doorn's PhD study is: J. van Doorn, Sociologie van de Organisatie (Leiden: Stenfert Kroese, 1956). The additional study on derailed violence is: J. van Doorn and W. Hendrix, Ontsporing van Geweld (Rotterdam : Rotterdam University Press, 1970 ).
2.
In 2005, the Naval Academy in Den Helder and the Royal Military Academy in Breda merged and now form the Netherlands Defence Academy.
3.
N. Elias, The Genesis of the Naval Profession, edited by and with an introduction from R. Moelker and S. Mennell (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2007).
4.
Ibid., 86.
5.
Ibid., 30-31.
6.
J. van Doorn, "The Officer Corps," in The Soldier and Social Change , ed. J. van Doorn ( Beverly Hills, CA; London, 1974), 20-46.
7.
R. Moelker and J. Soeters, "Democratization of Recruitment. An International Comparative Research into the Trends in Social Origins of Future Officers," in The European Cadet: Professional Socialisation in Military Academies, ed. G. Caforio (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1998), 121-35.
8.
Ibid.; P. Groen and W. Klinkert, Studenten in Uniform: 175 Jaar Koninklijke Militaire Academie 1828-2003 (Den Haag: SDU, 2003), 57-80.
9.
C.C. Moskos, J.A. Williams, and D.R. Segal, The Postmodern Military: Armed Forces after the Cold War ( New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
10.
T. Hammes, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century ( Grand Rapids, MI: Zenith Press, 2004).
11.
R. Gooren, "Soldiering in Unfamiliar Places: The Dutch Approach," Military Review86, March-April ( 2006): 54-60.
12.
For an overview of mostly American sources regarding cultural awareness, see D. Simpson, Cultural Awareness and the Military, Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center, January 2007, http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/culture.htm (accessed January 15, 2007).
13.
E. Bleumink , R. Moelker, and A. Vogelaar, "Educating Peacekeepers," in NL ARMS Officer Education: The Road to Athens!, ed. H. Kirkels, W. Klinkert, and R. Moelker (Breda: Netherlands Defence Academy, 2003), 137-55. This study was based on a data file that was collected by a predominantly European team of researchers (the United States and South Africa were the non-European countries represented in the study). The larger ten-country study by this team was published in G. Caforio, ed., The Flexible Officer: Professional Education and Military Operations Other Than War: A Cross-National Analysis (Rome, Italy: Centro Militaire di Studi Strategici, 2001).
14.
Groen and Klinkert, Studenten in Uniform, 219.
15.
Ibid., 341-47.
16.
Ibid., 343.
17.
Ibid., 366.
18.
Ibid., 378.
19.
J. van Doorn , "The Decline of the Mass Army" in The Soldier and Social Change (Beverly Hills, CA; London, 1974), 51-64. His work on remilitarizing is published in J. van Doorn, "Voortgaande Vermaatschappelijking of Hernieuwde Militarisatie?" in Welzijn en Krijgsmacht , ed. H. Brentjens and C. Turpijn (Deventer: Van Loghum Slaterus , 1977), 84-91.
20.
van Doorn, Sociologie van de Organisatie; J. van Doorn, "Genesis of Military and Industrial Organization" and " The Officer Corps," in The Soldier and Social Change, ed. J. van Doorn (Beverly Hills, CA; London, 1974), 5-46.
21.
H. Born, J. van Doorn, and C. Vroom, "Inleiding," in Totale Instituties, ed. I. Goffman (Rotterdam: Universitaire Pers Rotterdam), 1-10.
22.
W. Burggraaf , Kennis is Macht, Karakter is Meer ( Gravenhage: VUGA Uitgeverij B.V.: 1988). R. Moelker , "Hiding Behind the Pillars. Reflections on the Education of Officers at the Royal Netherlands Military Academy," in The European Officer: A Comparative View on Selection and Education , ed. G. Caforio ( Pisa, Italy: Edizioni ETS, 2000), 123-139.
23.
G. Teitler, The Genesis of the Professional Officers' Corps ( London : Sage, 1977).
24.
Elias, The Genesis of the Naval Profession.
25.
G. Teitler, "The Successful Case of Military Unionization in the Netherlands," Armed Forces & Society2 (1976 ): 517-28.
26.
J. Niezing, "Militaire en Andere Logica: Over de Gemeenschappelijkheid van Militaire en Politieke Orientaties," in Welzijn en Krijgsmacht, ed. H. Brentjens and C. Turpijn (Deventer: Van Loghum Slaterus, 1977), 62-68.
27.
H.J.H. Brentjens, Visies op Jeugd (Deventer: Van Loghum Slaterus, 1978).
28.
H. Brentjens and C. Turpijn , eds., Welzijn en Krijgsmacht (Deventer : Van Loghum Slaterus, 1977).
29.
G.R. Norman and H.G. Schmidt, "Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning Curricula: Theory, Practice and Paper Darts," Medical Education34, 9 ( 2000): 721-28.
30.
G. Caforio, ed., Social Sciences and the Military: An Interdisciplinary Overview (London;New York: Routledge, 2007).
31.
J. Soeters, "Military Sociology in the Netherlands," in Military Sociology: The Richness of a Discipline, ed. G. Kuemmel and A. Pruefert (Baden-Baden : Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2000 ), 136.
32.
R. Moelker and J. Soeters, Krijgsmacht en Samenleving: Klassieke en Eigentijdse Inzichten ( Amsterdam: Boom, 2003 ).
33.
J. Soeters, Ethnic Conflict and Violence: The Origins and Dynamics of Civil Wars (New York: Routledge, 2005).
34.
D. Winslow and R. Moelker, "Chechenya, Caught between Globalization from above and Globalization from below," in Conflict in a Globalising World: Essays in Honour of Peter Kloos, ed. D. Kooiman, A. Koster, P. Smets, and B. Venema (Assen: Van Gorcum, 2002), 211-28.
35.
R. Richardson, D. Verweij, A. Vogelaar, and H. Kuipers, eds., Mens en Organisatie: De Krijgsmacht in Verandering (Amsterdam: Mets en Schilt, 2002).
36.
J. Soeters, "Culture in Uniformed Organizations," in Handbook of Organizational Culture & Climate, ed. N. M. Ashkanashy, C. P. M. Wilderom , and M. F. Peterson ( Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000), 465-81.
37.
G. Caforio, Handbook of the Sociology of the Military (New York: Kluwer /Plenum, 2003); T. Britt and A. Adler, The Psychology of the Peacekeeper: Lessons from the Field ( Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003).
38.
J. Soeters, Ethnic Conflict and Terrorism: The Origins and Dynamics of Civil Wars (New York: Routledge, 2005); O. Ramsbotham , T. Woodhouse, and H. Miall, Contemporary Conflict Resolution, 2nd edition (Oxford : Polity Press, 2005).
