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  • Living reference work
  • Open Access
  • © 2020

Handbook of Military Sciences

  • Authoritative open access reference work on military sciences
  • Provides an overview of scientific description, understanding and explanation of military life
  • Presents a comprehensive thematic introduction to various sub-fields of Military Sciences
  • This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Table of contents (47 entries)

  1. “New” Military History

    • Jan Hoffenaar
    Open Access
  2. Anthropology of the Military

    • Maren Tomforde, Eyal Ben-Ari
    Open Access
  3. Behavioral Economics in Military Personnel Research and Policy

    • Benjamin Sylvester, Damian O’Keefe, Steve Gooch, Eugenia Kalantzis
    Open Access
  4. Character Strengths and Its Utility for Military Leadership: A View from Positive Psychology

    • Alejandro César Cosentino, Alejandro Castro Solano
    Open Access
  5. Civil-Military Relations: What Is the State of the Field

    • David Pion-Berlin, Danijela Dudley
    Open Access
  6. Concept of Sea Power

    • Torsten Albrecht, Konstantinos Tsetsos, Philipp Grunwald
    Open Access
  7. Dynamic Intersection of Military and Society

    • Patricia M. Shields
    Open Access
  8. Empirical Research on Military Ethical Behaviour

    • Deanna L. Messervey, Erinn C. Squires
    Open Access
  9. Environmental Stress in Military Settings

    • Wendy Sullivan-Kwantes, Matthew Cramer, Fethi Bouak, Leonard Goodman
    Open Access
  10. Evolution of Joint Warfare

    • Edward R. Lucas, Thomas A. Crosbie
    Open Access
  11. Evolution of Military Design

    • Jason Trew, Ben Zweibelson, Daniel Riggs
    Open Access
  12. Foundational Concepts of Military Logistics

    • Paul C. van Fenema, Ton van Kampen
    Open Access
  13. History and Development of Military Psychology

    • George R. Mastroianni
    Open Access
  14. International Relations and Military Sciences

    • Carsten F. Roennfeldt
    Open Access
  15. Military and Religion

    • Yagil Levy
    Open Access

About this book

This open access handbook is a major reference work in the field of Military Sciences. Its main purpose is to inform and enlighten those dealing with the military on the role and contributions of science in describing, understanding and explaining military life, knowledge and doings. The handbook provides a comprehensive thematic introduction to various sub-fields of Military Sciences.



The handbook serves a broad audience in various capacities; academics studying the military and the broader defense and security sector, students at military and civilian schools preparing for service in the military, the government or other occupations with linkage to the military, professionals in the armed forces, decision makers in government, contractors who work alongside the military, NGOs whose work is influenced by military operations, journalists who write on matters concerning the sphere of the military or others with a particular interest towards the military as a phenomenon, organization or system of various kinds. 



About the Section Editors
Lt. Col. Dr. Anders McD Sookermany, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway (Section: Philosophy of Military Sciences)
Lt. Col. Dr. Harald Høiback, Norwegian Armed Forces Museums, Oslo, Norway (Section: Military Operations)

Dr. Niels Bo Poulsen, Royal Danish Defence College, Copenhagen, Denmark (Section: Military History)
Prof. Dr. Patricia M. Shields, Texas State University, San Marcos, USA (Section: Military and Society)
Dr. Carsten F. Rønnfeldt, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway (Section: International Relations and the Military)
Associate Professor David Last, Royal Military College of Canada, Canada (Section: Military Profession)
Dr. Irina Goldenberg, Canadian Department of National Defence, Nepean, Canada (Section: Military Behavioural Sciences)
Dr. Michael Holenweger, Military Academy at ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (Section: Military Leadership)
Prof. Dr. Martin Elbe, Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr, Potsdam, Germany (Section: Military Leadership)
Franz Kernic, MILAC at ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (Section: Military Leadership)
Joseph Soeters, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands (Section: Military Management, Economics and Logistics)
Prof Margaret Kosal, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA (Section: Military Technology)
Dr. Ben Zweibelson, Joint Special Operations University, Tampa, USA (Section: Military Design)
Ms. Aubrey Poe (Section: Military Design)



Editors and Affiliations

  • Staff & Defence College, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway

    Anders McD Sookermany

About the editor

Anders McD Sookermany (1967) is both an active duty officer and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Civil-Military Relations. He is President of the International Society of Military Sciences (ISMS), Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway. He was a research fellow at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences Defence Institute. He has a Defense College education supplemented with a doctorate degree in Pedagogy form the University of Oslo and a masters degree in Philosophy of Sport from the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences. 

His research interest is related to skill-acquisition in postmodern/modern military contexts. Currently Sookermany is heading the institutes R&D-program “Learning under Risk” (LuR). The overall aim of the LuR-program is to describe, understand and explain the risk dimension in (relation to) soldiers’ learning before, during and after participation in military operations. As a sports- and pedagogical philosopher Sookermany is also interested in the Philosophy of Science, a subject he teaches at the masters level at the Norwegian Defence University College. More so, for the time being he is in cooperation with the military academies in the process of developing a new bachelor subject on developing military training cultures. 

In addition Sookermany has, within the broader area of his expertise (education, learning, training, performance and culture), participated in several national and international committees, councils, working groups etc. He is a member of the editorial board of the Armed Forces & Society journal.​


Bibliographic Information