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Counter-insurgency

Counter-insurgency

Counter-insurgency is the combatting of insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. It therefore falls somewhere between ordinary policing, on the one hand, and conventional warfare on the other. Counter-insurgency is normally conducted as a combination of conventional military operations and other means, such as Propaganda, Psy-Ops, and assassinations. Counter-insurgency operations include many different facades military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken to defeat insurgency. The term began to be used by the U.S. Army in the Autumn of 2004 to describe ongoing operations in Iraq and related operations as far back as the Vietnam War. The Army published a Special Forces manual titled Counter-Insurgency Operations in 1960. As used by the U.S. Army, counter insurgency operations include psychological warfare and information warfare aspects of such operations, which include direct interference in a country's politics and media or the spread of disinformation (the civilian equivalent of military deception) to maintain control of a population.

Controversy

Counter-insurgency tactics are often controversial, sometimes involving human rights abuses and violations of civil liberties, such as internment, detention of familiy members of suspected insurgents as de facto hostages, extra-judicial killing of civilians and prisoners and torture. Tactics similar to those of guerrilla warfare and insurgency are sometimes used by the governments themselves, such as assassinations of suspected insurgents, extra-judicial executions of suspected insurgent sympathisers and irregular paramilitary operations by covert operatives who may not wear uniforms. In many conflicts, counter-insurgency operations kill more civilians than the insurgents themselves, especially when the insurgents have a large support base among the civilian population. Examples of this include the US anti-insurgency operation in Iraq, Israeli counter-insurgency during the occupations of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon, many anti-British colonial uprisings, Contras in Nicaragua, the Caravan of Death in Chile, and many of the different paramilitary groups (such as the AUC) and death squads in Colombia. It could also be argued that in US President George W. Bush's War on Terrorism, US and allied armed forces have by far killed more civilians than Al Qaeda, the Iraqi resistance and allied anti-US Islamist militants. According to Iraq Body Count, over 3,500 civilians were killed by anti-US paramilitaries between September 2001 and November 2003, compared to over 3000 civilians killed in Afghanistan and at least 10,000 killed in Iraq by US and allied forces. [http://www.iraqbodycount.org/editorial_feb0704.htm]. The Lancet journal subsequently estimated 98,000 (8000-194000) civilians died as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and reported civilians deaths according to Iraq Body Count now exceed 25,000. Most (over a third) are attributed to US and allied forces, a similar amount to common criminals and only 9% to the insurgents. [http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673604174412/abstract]. An exception to this rule appears to be the most recent 1970s-1998 Troubles in Northern Ireland, in which Provisional IRA guerrillas are said to have killed the most people, including the most civilians, when compared to the British security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries. Notable British counter-insurgency operations occurred during the difficult process of decolonization: for example, the Mau-Mau emergency in Kenya, and the Malayan Emergency. The U.S. military and allied South Vietnamese security forces conducted counter-insurgency operations against National Liberation Front guerrillas during the Vietnam War, including the notorious Phoenix Program which resulted in the killing of thousands of civilians accused of being NLF sympathisers or relatives of sympathisers. The U.S., British and allied occupation forces and the Iraqi security forces are currently engaging in a counter-insurgency operation against various Iraqi guerrilla groups opposed to the presence of foreign troops and the current elected Iraqi government.

Tactics

Draining The Water

The name of this tactic is taken from Mao Zedong's advice to his guerrillas to "move through the people like a fish moves through water". It involves the often forced relocation of the population ("water") to expose the guerrillas or insurgents ("fish"). That is, to deprive them of the support, cover, and resources of the local population. This strategy was used extensively by U.S. forces in South Vietnam, initially by forcing the rural population into fenced camps referred to as "strategic hamlets", and later by carpet bombing them with B-52s to kill some and remove the rest from their villages and farms. Widespread use was made of chemical herbicides, sprayed from airplanes, to destroy crops that might have provided food for NLF fighters and the population that supported them.

COIN Aircraft

Since the 1960s, a specialized form of close air support has been developed for counter-insurgency operations. This covers a wide range of operations, from ground attack and observation to light transport and casualty evacuation. An aircraft used for counter-insurgency should ideally be able to perform all these roles. Such an aircraft should have low loitering speed, long endurance, simplicity in maintenance, and the capability to make short take-offs and landings from rough frontline airstrips. At first (particularly during the Vietnam War) counter-insurgency missions were flown by existing airplanes and helicopters hastily adapted for the role, notably the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Later, more specialized counter-insurgency (or COIN) aircraft began to appear, such as:
- Britten-Norman Defender (UK)
- BAC Strikemaster (UK)
- Cessna A-37 Dragonfly (USA)
- Rockwell OV-10 Bronco (USA)
- FMA IA 58 Pucará (Argentina)

External links

- [http://www.etext.org/Politics/INAC/british.counterinsurgency British Counter Insurgency Strategy]
- [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/US_Counterinsurg_Soldier.html Inside Counterinsurgency], by Stan Goff, ex - US special forces
- [http://www.statecraft.org/ Instruments of Statecraft - U.S. Guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940 - 1990], by Michael McClintock
- [http://mass-multi-media.com/CRV/ Counter-Revolutionary Violence - Bloodbaths in Fact & Propaganda], by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman
- [http://www.jpfo.org/stroop.htm THE WARSAW GHETTO IS NO MORE], by SS Brigade Commander Jurgen Stroop Category:War Category:Rebellion

Insurgency

An insurgency is an organized rebellion that engages in deliberate actions to cause the downfall of a governmental authority, through destruction and armed actions. This can include a range of behavior, but primarily focuses on armed activities of irregular forces that rise up against an established authority, a government, an administration, or a belligerent military occupation. Those carrying out an insurgency are "insurgents". Insurgents engage in regular or guerrilla combat against the armed forces of the established regime, such as conducting sabotage and harassment. Insurgents are in opposition to a civil authority or government primarily in order to overthrow or obtain a share in government, to further a separatist or revolutionary agenda, or improve their condition. Insurgents are a major though not all-encompasing cause of death in the war in Iraq.

Tactics and strategies

Insurgent tactics and strategies vary widely, as well as the type of targets insurgents attack. Raids are amongst most common actions taken by insurgent in a dominated state of province. In addition, insurgents establish ties with other outlaws and double agents to further their goals. Some militants can also be sponsored by competing or enemy state governments. Some elements of an insurgency may use bombs, kidnappings, hostage-taking, hijackings, shootings and other types of violence to target the establishment's power structure and other facilities with little regard for civilian casualties. Other elements may only target their attacks on military objectives and avoid the targeting of civilians. Many times, insurgent groups conduct violent attacks but do not reveal the groups's identity or leader. Usually, an individual with iconic and symbolic status throughout the movement becomes it's principal leader against the governmental authority. Leaders of differing background from the insurgency movement itself may, at times, take over an insurgency. Insurgents use a variety of asymmetrical warfare tactics, usually because of the insurgents force's capabilities are unequal to the authority's capabilities. Insurgents attacks against the authority may take the form of attacks on supply trains and security forces using hidden explosives. These explosive devices, at times made from military-grade materials, are concealed or camouflaged along transport routes and detonated when a supply transports and security forces come within distance. Insurgents frequently launch ambushes on military targets, with automatic and antitank weapons. Unarmored targets are commonly targeted. The congested and constricted terrain of the urban areas, and in the rural areas, offer cover and concealment for insurgents launching ambushes for a force multiplier by the insurgent force and as a force inhibitor against the targeted force. Such attacks are usually broken off before support or reinforcements can be called in.

Political discourse and the mass media

The term has built-in political connotations and requires much effort to use without taking a political position. It is most commonly used to describe a movement's unlawfulness by virtue of not being authorized by or in accordance with the law. When used by a state or an authority under threat, "insurgency" implies an illegitimacy of cause upon those rising up. Whereas those rising up will see the authority itself as being illegitimate. In cases of rebellions, the term insurgents refers to those who are not part of the decision-making entity that has the ability to make laws. For example, "the congress has the authority to pass laws to stop the insurgency" vs "the police have the power to arrest insurgents". The term “insurgency”, beginning in 2003, has been used by various politicians (at times, in the western world) and mainstream media (at times, english speaking outlets) to describe the tactics favored by forces in opposition to the invasion of and occupation of Iraq, as well as the new Iraqi government. The Iraqi insurgency has been an armed campaign waged by various irregular forces, both Iraqi and external in origin, against the U.S. led multinational force and the new Iraqi government. If the current government is legitimate and established, then the term can considered valid in this context; as the "Iraqi resistance" to the new government is being perpetrated by militants against an authorized political structure that is sanctioned by and in accordance with international law. The term is concurrently used to signify the conflict against the multinational force's invasion and occupation of Iraq (ed. see 2005 in Iraq) In some other venues, this force is sometimes described as a legitimate "Iraqi resistance" which is fighting against the occupation forces and the interim government. Whether the Iraqi participants in this conflict can be accurately labelled insurgents is a matter of debate due in no small part to the political implications of how the groups are discussed. Not all those opposed to the new Iraqi government, multinational forces and/or the reconstruction are militant groups. Various Iraqi groups and political parties advocating non-violent resistance also exist.

References

- "[http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=insurgency insurgency]", WordNet Search - 2.1; Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University (Princeton, NJ), 2005.

Propaganda

Capitol building.]] Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions of people, rather than to impartially provide information. In some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation. The most common use of the term (historically) is in political contexts; in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, and other often covert interests. Some propaganda includes significant and deliberate falsehoods. However the message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda, but it may omit so many pertinent truths that it becomes highly misleading.

Purpose of propaganda

political The aim of propaganda is to influence people's opinions actively, rather than to merely communicate the facts about something. For example, propaganda might be used to garner either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to simply present the position. What separates propaganda from "normal" communication is in the subtle, often insidious, ways that the message attempts to shape opinion. For example, propaganda is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially by suggesting illogical (or non-intuitive) relationships between concepts. An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, more obvious a propaganda method than those utilized by some other more implicit, subtle and insidious forms. For instance, propaganda may be transmitted indirectly, through an ostensibly fair and balanced debate or argument. This can be done to great effect in conjunction with a broadly targeted, broadcast news format. In such a setting, techniques like, "red herring", and other ploys (see also: Ignoratio elenchi), are often used to divert the audience from a critical issue, while the intended message is suggested through indirect means. This sophisticated type of diversion utilizes the appearance of lively debate within, what is actually, a carefully focused spectrum, to generate and justify deliberately conceived assumptions. This technique avoids the distinctively biased appearance of one sided rhetoric, and works by presenting a contrived premise for an argument as if it were a universally accepted and obvious truth, so that the audience naturally assumes it to be correct. By maintaining the range of debate in such a way that it appears inclusive of differing points of view, so as to suggest fairness and balance, the suppositions suggested become accepted as fact. Here is such an example of a hypothetical situation in which the opposing viewpoints are supposedly represented: the hawk (see: hawkish) says, "we must stay the course", and the dove says, "The war is a disaster and a failure", to which the hawk responds, "In war things seldom go smoothly and we must not let setbacks affect our determination", the dove retorts, "setbacks are setbacks, but failures are failures." As one can see, the actual validity of the war is not discussed and is never in contention. One may naturally assume that the war was not fundamentally wrong, but just the result of miscalculation, and therfore, an error, instead of a crime. Thus, by maintaining the appearance of equitable discourse in such debates, and through continuous inculcation, such focused arguments succeed in compelling the audience to logically deduce that the presupposions of debate are unequivocal truisms of the given subject. The method of propaganda is essential to the word's meaning as well. A message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda. In fact, the message in modern propaganda is often not blatantly untrue. But even if the message conveys only "true" information, it will generally contain partisan bias and fail to present a complete and balanced consideration of the issue. Another common characteristic of propaganda is volume (in the sense of a large amount). For example, a propagandist may seek to influence opinion by attempting to get a message heard in as many places as possible, and as often as possible. The intention of this approach is to a) reinforce an idea through repetition, and b) exclude or "drown out" any alternative ideas. In English, the word "propaganda" now carries strong negative (as well as political) connotations, although it has not always done so. It was formerly common for political organisations to refer to their own material as propaganda. Other languages do not necessarily regard the term as derogatory and hence usage may lead to misunderstanding in communications with non-native English speakers. For example, in Brazil and some Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the Southern Cone, the word "propaganda" usually means the most common manipulation of information—"advertising".

Types of propaganda

advertising]] Propaganda shares techniques with advertising. In fact, advertising can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a commercial product; the word "propaganda" in English more typically refers to political or nationalist uses, or promotion of a set of ideas. Propaganda also has much in common with public information campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior (such as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering, or so forth). Again, the emphasis is more political in propaganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaflets, posters, TV, and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other medium. There is also an important distinction between propaganda such as advertising and what the Government Accountability Office, an arm of the United States Congress, refers to as "covert propaganda." The distinction can be described as such: advertisements in newspapers are sometimes made with the intent to appear, at first glance, as news article, but these are required to display a message stating that they are in fact advertisements. If there is no visible statement of the fact that it is an advertisement, the average reader would be inclined to think the advertisement was in fact a news story (which are by definition characterized by balanced inclusion of relevant facts), and that advertisement has now become a piece of covert propaganda. The Bush Administration has come under fire for allegedly producing and disseminating covert propaganda in the form of television programs, aired in the United States, which appeared to be legitimate news broadcasts and did not include any information signifying that the programs were not generated by a private-sector news source. mediumPropaganda, in a narrower use of the term, connotates deliberately false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political cause or the interests of those in power. The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group. Propaganda, in this sense, serves as a corollary to censorship in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's minds with approved information, but by preventing people from being confronted with opposing points of view. What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue, but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda. deception as the loving father of the "Rainbow Family."]] More in line with the religious roots of the term, it is also used widely in the debates about new religious movements (NRMs), both by people who defend them and by people who oppose them. The latter pejoratively call these NRMs cults. Anti-cult activists and countercult activists accuse the leaders of what they consider cults of using propaganda extensively to recruit followers and keep them. Some social scientists, such as the late Jeffrey Hadden, and CESNUR affiliated scholars accuse ex-members of "cults" who became vocal critics and the anti-cult movement of making these unusual religious movements look bad without sufficient reasons. Propaganda is a mighty weapon in war. In this case its aim is usually to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external. The technique is to create a false image in the mind. This can be done by using special words, special avoidance of words or by saying that the enemy is responsible for certain things he never did. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just. war Propaganda is also one of the methods used in psychological warfare. The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes. The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant (see cognitive dissonance), people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason propaganda is often addressed to people who are already sympathetic to the agenda. This process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control. cognitive dissonance Propaganda can be classified according to the source and nature of the message. White propaganda generally comes from an openly identified source, and is characterized by gentler methods of persuasion, such as standard public relations techniques and one-sided presentation of an argument. Black propaganda often pretends to be from a friendly source, but is actually from an adversary. Black propaganda is characterized by its presentation of false information to elicit a desired response, and is often used in covert military psychological operations and by large networked organizations such as terror networks or governments. Gray propaganda may come from an adversarial source pretending to be friendly or neutral, and presents misleading information in a more insidious manner than white propaganda. In scale, these different types of propaganda can also be defined by the potential of true and correct information to compete with the propaganda. For example, opposition to white propaganda is often readily found and may slightly discredit the propaganda source. Opposition to gray propaganda, when revealed (often by an inside source), may create some level of public outcry. Opposition to black propaganda is often unavailable and may be dangerous to reveal, because public cognizance of black propaganda tactics and sources would undermine or backfire the very campaign the black propagandist supported. Propaganda may be administered in very insidious ways. For instance, disparaging disinformation about history, certain groups, or foreign countries may be encouraged or tolerated in the educational system. Since few people actually double-check what they learn at school, such disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation item is really a "well-known fact," even though no one repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative source. The disinformation is then recycled in the media and in the educational system, without the need for direct governmental intervention on the media. Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks, or ignore the experience of others. See also: black propaganda, marketing, advertising

History of propaganda

advertising In late Latin, propaganda meant "things to be propagated". In 1622, shortly after the start of the Thirty Years' War, Pope Gregory XV founded the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide ("Congregation for Propagating the Faith"), a committee of Cardinals with the duty of overseeing the propagation of Christianity by missionaries sent to non-Catholic countries. Therefore, the term itself originates with this Roman Catholic Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando or, briefly, propaganda fide), the department of the pontifical administration charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries (mission territory). The actual Latin stem propagand- conveys a sense of "that which ought to be spread". Originally the term was not intended to refer to misleading information. The modern political sense dates from World War I, and was not originally pejorative. World War I Propaganda has been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The writings of Romans like Livy are considered masterpieces of pro-Roman statist propaganda. Propaganda techniques were first codified and applied in a scientific manner by journalist Walter Lippman and psychologist Edward Bernays (nephew of Sigmund Freud) early in the 20th century. During World War I, Lippman and Bernays were hired by then United States President, Woodrow Wilson, to participate in the Creel Commission, the mission of which was to sway popular opinion in favor of entering the war, on the side of Britain. The Creel Commission provided themes for speeches by "four-minute men" at public functions, and also encouraged censorship of the American press. The Commission was so unpopular that after the war, Congress closed it down without providing funding to organize and archive its papers. The war propaganda campaign of Lippman and Bernays produced within six months such an intense anti-German hysteria as to permanently impress American business (and Adolf Hitler, among others) with the potential of large-scale propaganda to control public opinion. Bernays coined the terms "group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in practical propaganda work. The current public relations industry is a direct outgrowth of Lippman's and Bernays' work and is still used extensively by the United States government. For the first half of the 20th century Bernays and Lippman themselves ran a very successful public relations firm. World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, both by Hitler's propagandist Joseph Goebbels and the British Political Warfare Executive, as well as the United States Office of War Information. In the early 2000s, the United States government developed and freely distributed a video game known as America's Army. The stated intention of the game is to encourage players to become interested in joining the U.S. Army. According to a poll by I for I Research, 30% of young people who had a positive view of the military said that they had developed that view by playing the game.

Russian revolution

U.S. Army]] U.S. Army]] Russian revolutionaries of the 19th and 20th centuries distinguished two different aspects covered by the English term propaganda. Their terminology included two terms: (agitatsiya), or agitation, and , or propaganda, see agitprop. Soviet propaganda meant dissemination of revolutionary ideas, teachings of Marxism, and theoretical and practical knowledge of Marxist economics, while agitation meant forming favorable public opinion and stirring up political unrest. These activities did not carry negative connotations (as they usually do in English) and were encouraged. Marxist economics Expanding dimensions of state propaganda, Joseph Stalin's regime built the largest airplane of the 1930s, Tupolev ANT-20, exclusively for this purpose. Named after the famous Soviet writer Maxim Gorky who recently returned from capitalist fascist Italy, it was equipped with a powerful radio set called "Voice from the sky", printing and leaflet-dropping machinery, radiostations, photographic laboratory, film projector with sound for showing movies in flight, library, etc. The airplane could be disassembled and transported by railroad if needed. The giant aircraft set a number of world records.

Nazi Germany

film projector. Text: "Long Live Germany!"]] Most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Propagandaministerium, or "Promi" (German abbreviation)). Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Hitler took power in 1933. All journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate chambers for the press, fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, or radio. 1933 The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals. Adolf Hitler, Germany's Führer, was impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during World War I and believed that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918 (see also: Dolchstoßlegende). Hitler would meet nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain Hitler's thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass down the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior approval before their works were disseminated. In addition Adolf Hitler and some other powerful high ranking Nazis like Reinhard Heydrich had no moral qualms about spreading propaganda which they themselves knew to be false, and indeed spreading deliberately false information was part of a doctrine known as the Big Lie. Big Lie countering Nazi propaganda about the Aryan race]] Nazi propaganda before the start of World War II had several distinct audiences:
- German audiences were continually reminded of the struggle of the Nazi Party and Germany against foreign enemies and internal enemies, especially Jews.
- Ethnic Germans in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the Baltic states were told that blood ties to Germany were stronger than their allegiance to their new countries.
- Potential enemies, such as France and Britain, were told that Germany had no quarrel with the people of the country, but that their governments were trying to start a war with Germany.
- All audiences were reminded of the greatness of German cultural, scientific, and military achievements. Until the Battle of Stalingrad's conclusion on February 4, 1943, German propaganda emphasized the prowess of German arms and the supposed humanity German soldiers had shown to the peoples of occupied territories (the existence of the Holocaust was virtually unknown at this point). In contrast, British and Allied fliers were depicted as cowardly murderers, and Americans in particular as gangsters in the style of Al Capone. At the same time, German propaganda sought to alienate Americans and British from each other, and both these Western belligerents from the Soviets. Al Capone (GermanNotes.com)]] After Stalingrad, the main theme changed to Germany as the sole defender of what they called "Western European culture" against the "Bolshevist hordes". The introduction of the V-1 and V-2 "vengeance weapons" was emphasized to convince Britons of the hopelessness of defeating Germany. On June 23, 1944, the Nazis permitted the Red Cross to visit concentration camp Theresienstadt in order to dispel rumours about the Final Solution to the Jewish question. In reality, Theresienstadt was a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, but in a sophisticated propaganda effort, fake shops and cafés were erected to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort. The guests enjoyed the performance of a children's opera, Brundibar, written by inmate Hans Krása. The hoax was so successful for the Nazis that they went on to make a propaganda film at Theresienstadt. Shooting of the film began on February 26, 1944. Directed by Kurt Gerron, it was meant to show how well the Jews lived under the "benevolent" protection of the Third Reich. After the shooting, most of the cast, and even the filmmaker himself, were deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Goebbels committed suicide shortly after Hitler on April 30, 1945. In his stead, Hans Fritzsche, who had been head of the Radio Chamber, was tried and acquitted by the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal.

Cold War propaganda

Nuremberg war crimes tribunal Nuremberg war crimes tribunal The United States and the Soviet Union both used propaganda extensively during the Cold War. Both sides used film, television, and radio programming to influence their own citizens, each other, and Third World nations. The United States Information Agency operated the Voice of America as an official government station. Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which were in part supported by the Central Intelligence Agency, provided grey propaganda in news and entertainment programs to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union respectively. The Soviet Union's official government station, Radio Moscow, broadcast white propaganda, while Radio Peace and Freedom broadcast grey propaganda. Both sides also broadcast black propaganda programs in periods of special crises. In 1948, Britain's Foreign Office created the IRD (Information Research Department) which took over from wartime and slightly post-war departments such as the Ministry of Information and dispensed propaganda via various media such as the BBC and publishing. BBC The ideological and border dispute between the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China resulted in a number of cross-border operations. One technique developed during this period was the "backwards transmission," in which the radio program was recorded and played backwards over the air. (This was done so that messages that were meant to be received by the other government could be heard, while the average listener could not understand the content of the program.) In the Americas, Cuba served as a major source and a target of propaganda from both black and white stations operated by the CIA and Cuban exile groups. Radio Habana Cuba, in turn, broadcast original programming, relayed Radio Moscow, and broadcast The Voice of Vietnam as well as alleged confessions from the crew of the USS Pueblo. One of the most insightful authors of the Cold War was George Orwell, whose novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four are virtual textbooks on the use of propaganda. Though not set in the Soviet Union, their characters live under totalitarian regimes in which language is constantly corrupted for political purposes. These novels were used for explicit propaganda. The CIA, for example, secretly commissioned an animated film adaptation of Animal Farm in the 1950s with small changes to the original story to suit their needs.

Afghanistan

animated film. Text: "They're about to fall!" Names: Haqqani, Bin Laden, Mutawakkil]]In the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, psychological operations tactics (PSYOP) was employed to demoralize the Taliban and to win the sympathies of the Afghan population. At least six EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and transmit replacement propaganda messages. Leaflets were also dropped throughout Afghanistan, offering rewards for Osama bin Laden and other individuals, portraying Americans as friends of Afghanistan and emphasizing various negative aspects of the Taliban. Another shows a picture of Mohammed Omar in a set of crosshairs with the words "We are watching".

Iraq

Mohammed Omar. Text: "This is your future al-Zarqawi" and shows al-Qaeda terrorist al-Zarqawi caught in a rat trap.]]During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf repeatedly claimed Iraqi forces were decisively winning every battle. Even up to the overthrow of the Iraqi government at Baghdad, he maintained that the United States would soon be defeated, in contradiction with all other media. Due to this, he quickly became a cult figure in the West, and gained recognition on the website WeLoveTheIraqiInformationMinister.com The Iraqis misled by his propaganda, on the other hand, were shocked when instead Iraq was defeated. In November 2005, various media outlets, including The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, alleged that the United States military had manipulated news reported in Iraqi media in an effort to cast a favorable light on its actions while demoralizing the insurgency. Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said the program is "an important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents", while a spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the allegations of manipulation were troubling if true. The Department of Defense has confirmed the existence of the program. More recently, The New York Times (see external links below) published an article about how the Pentagon has started to use contractors with little experience in journalism or public relations to plant articles in the Iraqi press. These articles are usually written by US soldiers without attribution or are attributed to a non-existent organization called the "International Information Center." Planting propaganda stories in newspapers was done by both the Allies and Central Powers in the First World War and the Axis and Allies in the Second; this is the latest version of this technique.

Techniques of propaganda generation

International Information Center using the image of Jesus to elicit support for the fascist cause from the largely Catholic population. The portrayal of an African-American US Army soldier desecrating a church fosters racist sentiment.]] A number of techniques which are based on social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under logical fallacies, since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid. Some time has been spent analyzing the means by which propaganda messages are transmitted. That work is important but it is clear that information dissemination strategies only become propaganda strategies when coupled with propagandistic messages. Identifying these messages is a necessary prerequisite to study the methods by which those messages are spread. That is why it is essential to have some knowledge of the following techniques for generating propaganda:
- Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling fear in the general population, for example, Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German people.
- Appeal to authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position idea, argument, or course of action.
- Argumentum ad nauseam: Uses tireless repetition. An idea once repeated enough times, is taken as the truth. Works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator.
- Bandwagon: Bandwagon and inevitable-victory appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to take the course of action that "everyone else is taking."
- Join the crowd: This technique reinforces people's natural desire to be on the winning side. This technique is used to convince the audience that a program is an expression of an irresistible mass movement and that it is in their best interest to join.
- Inevitable victory: invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action.
- Direct order: This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process. The propagandist uses images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. The Uncle Sam "I want you" image is an example of this technique.
- Obtain disapproval: This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus if a group which supports a certain policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people support the same policy, then the members of the group may decide to change their original position.
- Glittering generalities: Glittering generalities are intense, emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. They appeal to such emotions as love of country, home; desire for peace, freedom, glory, honor, etc. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. Though the words and phrases are vague and suggest different things to different people their connotation is always favorable: "The concepts and programs of the propagandist are always good, desirable, virtuous." See ""transfer"", "virtue words"".
- Rationalization: Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.
- Intentional vagueness: Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience foregoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and application is not considered. Intentional vaguenessi propaganda picture.]]
- Transfer: Also known as association, this is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or value (an individual, group, organization, nation, patriotism, etc.) to another in order to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Often highly visual, this technique often utilizes symbols (for example, the Swastika used in Nazi Germany, originally a symbol for health and prosperity) superimposed over other visual images. An example of common use of this technique in America is for the President to be filmed or photographed in front of the American flag.
- Oversimplification: Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.
- Common man: The "plain folks" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothe their message in face-to-face and audiovisual communications) in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person.
- Testimonial: Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploited. The testimonial places the official sanction of a respected person or authority on a propaganda message. This is done in an effort to cause the target audience to identify itself with the authority or to accept the authority's opinions and beliefs as its own. See also, damaging quotation damaging quotation
- Stereotyping or Labeling: This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable. For instance, reporting on a foreign country or social group may focus on the stereotypical traits that the reader expects, even though they are far from being representative of the whole country or group; such reporting often focuses on the anecdotal.
- Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group that isn't really responsible, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.
- Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, etc. are virtue words. See ""Transfer"".
- Slogans: A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. If good ideas can be made into slogans, they should be, as good slogans are self-perpetuating.
- Unstated assumption: This technique is used when the propaganda concept the propagandist want to transmit would seem less credible if explicitly stated. It is instead repeatedly assumed or implied. Market populism was mostly spread this way -- few came out and said the market should replace democracy, but many talked about how much more responsive and efficient the market was, how it was overthrowing the old order, etc. See also: doublespeak, meme, cult of personality, spin, demonization

Techniques of propaganda transmission

demonization 2003.]] Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets, movies, radio, television, and posters. In the case of radio and television, propaganda can exist on news, current-affairs or talk-show segments, as advertising or public-service announce "spots" or as long-running advertorials. The magazine Tricontinental, issued by the Cuban OSPAAAL organization, folds propaganda posters and places one in each copy, allowing a very broad distribution of pro-Fidel Castro propaganda. Ideally a propaganda campaign will follow a strategic transmission pattern to fully indoctrinate a group. This may begin with a simple transmission such as a leaflet dropped from a plane or an advertisement. Generally these messages will contain directions on how to obtain more information, via a web site, hotline, radio program, et cetera. The strategy intends to initiate the individual from information recipient to information seeker through reinforcement, and then from information seeker to opinion leader through indoctrination. A successful propaganda campaign includes this cyclical meme-reproducing process.

References

# # # # # # # # #
- Appendix I: PSYOP Techniques (Aug. 31, 1979). Psychological Operations Field Manual No.33-1. Washington, D.C.: Headquarters; Department of the Army. ([http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm33-1/ partial contents here])
- Bytwerk, Randall L. Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-870-13710-7
- Edwards, John Carver. Berlin Calling: American Broadcasters in Service to the Third Reich. New York, Prager Publishers, 1991. ISBN 0-275-93705-7.
- Howe, Ellic. The Black Game: British Subversive Operations Against the German During the Second World War. London: Futura, 1982.
- Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Revisited, New York: Harper, 1958
- Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean Lerner. New York: Knopf, 1965. New York: Random House/ Vintage 1973
- Linebarger, Paul M. A. (aka Cordwainer Smith). Psychological Warfare. Washington, D.C., Infantry Journal Press, 1948.
- Nelson, Richard Alan. A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1986. ISBN 0313292612.
- Rouse, Ed. The PsyWarrior. Retrieved from http://www.psywarrior.com.
- Young, Emma (Oct. 10, 2001) [http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991404 Psychological warfare waged in Afghanistan]. New Scientist.
- Shirer, William L. Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941. New York: Albert A. Knopf, 1942.
- SourceWatch, the encyclopedia of propaganda. Available at [http://www.sourcewatch.org http://www.sourcewatch.org].

External links

- [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/politics/11propaganda.html?ex=1135054800&en=05cc913041fcf232&ei=5070]: A NY Times article about unattributed articles placed by the USA in foreign newspapers, TV, and radio.
- [http://members.home.nl/ww2propaganda/ WW2 propaganda leaflets]: A website about airdropped, shelled or rocket fired propaganda leaflets. Some posters also.
- [http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Military.asp War, Propaganda and the Media]: from GlobalIssues.org
- [http://www.propagandacritic.com Propaganda Critic]: A website devoted to propaganda analysis.
- [http://www.themissingtimes.com/ The Missing Times: News media complicity in the UFO cover-up.]
- [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB78/ Documentation on Early Cold War U.S. Propaganda Activities in the Middle East] by the National Security Archive. Collection of 148 documents and overview essay.
- [http://intellit.muskingum.edu/uk_folder/ukwwiiservpwe.html Bibliography on the British Political Warfare Executive]
- [http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=propaganda_techniques Propaganda techniques] list from SourceWatch
- [http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=propaganda Propaganda] defined more technically, also from SourceWatch
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12456a.htm Sacred Congregation of Propaganda] from the Catholic Encyclopedia
- [http://www.angelfire.com/psy/intheheart/propag.html excerpts from _Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes_ by Jacques Ellul]
- [http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/ Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages]
- [http://artchina.free.fr/ Propaganda Communist Chinese Paintings] (site in French)
- Bytwerk, Randall, "[http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/index.htm Nazi and East German Propaganda Guide Page]". CAS Department, Calvin College.
- [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters2.htm Nazi Posters: 1933-1945]
- [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/arttopic/pstr-rec/n-recpst.htm US Navy recruiting posters archive]
- [http://www.propagandaposters.us US Propaganda Posters from World War II]
- [http://www.centcom.mil/galleries/leaflets/showleaflets.asp US Central Command (CENTCOM) archive of propaganda leaflets dropped in Iraq]
- [http://warmuseum.ca/cwm/newspapers/information_e.html Information, Propaganda, Censorship in Canadian Newspapers during World War II]
- [http://www.workingpsychology.com/fahrenheit.html Propaganda & Fahrenheit 9/11] 13,000-word propaganda analysis of Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, by Kelton Rhoads, founder of [http://www.workingpsychology.com/ workingpsychology.com]
- [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Manufacturing_Consent.html Manufacturing Consent] by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
- [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Nancy_Snow/Information_War.html Information War] by Nancy Snow
- [http://www.zmag.org/meastwatch/propwar.htm Propaganda and War] by Edward Said
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/wwpost/ Over 400 posters from WWI & II] (searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/wwpost/1f/world_war_posters.pdf layered PDF] format)
- [http://www.psywar.org/leaflets.php Psywar.org]'s large collection of propaganda leaflets from various conflicts
- [http://www.clandestineradio.com/ ClandestineRadio.com] A site that tracks and analyzes subversive radio & TV stations around the world
- Superman comics covers with World War II propaganda: [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/20.html] [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/54.html] [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/68.html] [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/69.html] [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/87.html] [http://www.superdickery.com/dick/89.html] ("Slap a Jap", "Japanazis", etc.) category:applied psychology category:social psychology category:Promotion and marketing communications Category:Posters ja:プロパガンダ simple:Propaganda

Military

A military or military force (n., from Latin militarius, miles "soldier") has seen many different incarnations throughout time. Early armies may have been just men with sharpened sticks and rocks, through time they have included advancements such as men mounted on horses, men wielding swords and other metallic weapons, the bow and arrow, siege weapons, to the advance of the musket which form the roots of the armed force of most nations we know today. In modern times people use vehicles and guns. While military can refer to any armed force, it generally refers to a permanent, professional force of soldiers or guerrillas—trained exclusively for the purpose of warfare and should be distinguished from a sanctioned militia or a levy, which are temporary forces— citizen soldiers with less training, who may be 'called up' as a reserve force, when a nation mobilizes for total war, or to defend against invasion. The term military is often used to mean an army. The doctrine that asserts the primacy of a military within a society is called militarism.

Meaning of the word

:Also see: Armed forces As an adjective, "military" is a descriptive property of things related to soldiers and warfare. It also refers to such context dependent terms such as military reserves which may indicate an actual unit deployable on command or the general sense, of a Nation States reserve troops available to or eligible for duty in its armed forces. In formal British English, "military" as an adjective [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20030636.htm refers] more particularly to matters relating to an army (land forces), as opposed to the naval and air force matters of the other two services. In American English, "military" as an adjective is more widely used for regulations pertaining to and between all the armed forces like military procurement, military transport, military justice, military strength and military force.

Military procurement

Military procurement refers to common regulations and requirements for a ship or a detached unit to requisistion and draw on a base's facilies (housing, pay, and rations for detached personnel), supplies (most commonly food stocks or materials, and vehicles) by the service running a primary base; e.g. Army units detached to or staging through an air base, a vessel calling at a port near an army or air base, an army unit drawing supplies from a naval base.

Military transport

Military transport would pertain to an equipment trans-shipped via a sister service, or an individual detached for a technical school operated by a sister service, or the travel orders and authorization of such an individual to procede via a sister services vehicles, as well as the drawing (loan of) transportation assets (staff cars, Hum-Vees, military trucks) operating from the primary base command.

Military Justice

Military Justice, as in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Most nations have a separate code of law which regulates both certain activities allowed only in war, as well as provides a code of law applicable only to a soldier in war (or 'in uniform' during in peacetime). The statutory laws set down by the United States Congress to apply to the individual conduct within any military force of the United States— these are the specific articles under which a soldier or sailor would be tried for infractions ranging from minor (Late Return, petty theft; ) to severe (Rape, Murder); this code is usually referred to by the acronym UCMJ.

Military strength

Military strength is a term that describes a quantification or reference to a nation's standing military forces or the capacity for fulfillment of that military's role. For example, the military strength of a given country could be interpreted as the number of individuals in its armed forces, the destructive potential of its arsenal, or both. For example, while China and India maintain the largest armed forces in the world, the US Military is considered to be the world's strongest.

Military Force

Military Force is a term that might refer to a particular unit, a regiment or gunboat deployed in a particular locale, or as an aggregate of such forces (e.g. "In the Gulf War the United States Central Command controled military forces (units) of each of the five military services of the United States.").

Military history

:Main article: Military history Military history is often considered to be the history of all conflicts, not just the history of proper militaries. It differs somewhat from the history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography. Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively.

Military reserve

:Main article: Military reserve Military reserve refers to specific trained pre-organized forces operating as an on call basis from the main military force. In the United States, the Reserves forces such as the qunit mission profile (e.g. Many 'Military Police' trained regular reserve units and ' National Guard units' were mobilized during the Iraq war, as were units specializing in supply, transport, engineering, et al.) These various volunteer manned units are always 'on call' and refered to as the ready reserves but might be augmented by the Inactive Reserves in time of dire emergency or total war under the United States model— the inactive reserve is composed of all former serving members of any of the US Armed Forces of military age. Individuls in this class are former members of the regular and ready reserve forces, that have opted to discontinue service in any of those organized bodys; in general, the inactive reserves are not an organized force, but a resource of trained manpower that can be mobilized similar to calling up a levy but in theory with the training of a militia. Individuals in the inactive reserves with specialized talents are from time to time also recalled into service, albeit rarely, one exception being the ongoing current need for Military Police and Quartermasters in Iraq.

Military science

:Main article: Military science Military science concerns itself with the study and of the diverse technical, psychological, and practical phenomena that encompass the events that make up warfare, especially armed combat. It strives to be an all-encompassing scientific system that if properly employed, will greatly enhance the practitioner's ability to prevail in an armed conflict with any adversary. To this end, it is unconcerned whether that adversary is an opposing military force, guerrillas or other irregulars, or even knows of or utilizes military science in return.

Specific militaries

- British Armed Forces
- Royal Navy
- British Army
- Royal Air Force
- Royal Marines
- Special Air Service
- Special Boat Service
- Canadian Armed Forces
- Canadian Army
- Royal Canadian Air Force
- Royal Canadian Navy
- Military of India
- Indian Army
- Indian Air Force
- Indian Navy
- Indian Coast Guard
- Indian Paramilitary Forces
- Military of New Zealand
- Royal New Zealand Navy
- New Zealand Army
- Royal New Zealand Air Force
- Special Air Service of New Zealand
- Military of the United States
- Army
- Air Force
- Marine Corps
- Navy
- Coast Guard
- Turkish Armed Forces
- Army
- Air Force
- Navy
- Gendarmerie
- Coast Guard See also :Category:Militaries.

Military Alliances

- NATO
- ANZUS
- United Nations
- Warsaw Pact

Reference

Major books for understanding the role of the military, and the civilian leadership of the military. # Why the Allies Won (WWII

Political

Politics is the process by which decisions are made for a given society. The method of making decisions for groups varies, but the act of decision making is the key component that characterises politics. Although it is generally applied to governments, politics is also observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Political science is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power, i.e. the ability to impose one's will on another. One theorist, Harold Lasswell, has defined politics as "who gets what, when, and how." Another definition of 'politics' is: "how power is distributed within a group or system".

A natural state

In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published his most famous work, Leviathan, in which he proposed a model of early human development to justify the creation of human associations. Hobbes described an ideal state of nature wherein every person had equal right to every resource in nature and was free to use any means to acquire those resources. He noted that such an arrangement created a “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes). Further, he noted that men would enter into a social contract and would give up absolute rights for certain protections. While it appears that social cooperation and dominance hierarchies predate human societies, Hobbes’s model illustrates a rationale for the creation of societies (polities).

Early history

V.G. Childe describes the transformation of human society that took place around 6000 BCE as an urban revolution. Among the features of this new type of civilization were the institutionalization of social stratification, non-agricultural specialised crafts (including priests and lawyers), taxation, and writing. All of which require clusters of densely populated settlements - city-states. The word "Politics" is derived from the Greek word for city-state, "Polis". Corporate, religious, academic and every other polity, especially those constrained by limited resources, contain dominance hierarchy and therefore politics. Politics is most often studied in relation to the administration of governments. The oldest form of government was tribal organization. Rule by elders was supplanted by monarchy, and a system of Feudalism as an arrangement where a single family dominated the political affairs of a community. Monarchies have existed in one form or another for the past 5000 years of human history.

Definitions

- Power is the ability to impose one's will on another. It implies a capacity for force, i.e violence.
- Authority is the power to enforce laws, to exact obedience, to command, to determine, or to judge.
- Legitimacy is an attribute of government gained through the acquisition and application of power in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles.
- A government is the body that has the authority to make and enforce rules or laws.

Political power

Samuel Gompers’ often paraphrased maxim,"Reward your friends and punish your enemies," hints at two of the five types of power recognized by social psychologists: incentive power (the power to reward) and coercive power (the power to punish). Arguably the other three grow out of these two. Legitimate power, the power of the policeman or the referee, is the power given to an individual by a recognized authority to enforce standards of behavior. Legitimate power is similar to coercive power in that unacceptable behavior is punished by fine or penalty. Referent power is bestowed upon individuals by virtue of accomplishment or attitude. Fulfillment of the desire to feel similar to a celebrity or a hero is the reward for obedience. Expert power springs from education or experience. Following the lead of an experienced coach is often rewarded with success. Expert power is conditional to the circumstances. A brain surgeon is no help when your pipes are leaking.

Authority and legitimacy

Max Weber identified three sources of legitimacy for authority known as (tripartite classification of authority). He proposed three reasons why people followed the orders of those who gave them:

Traditional

Traditional authorities receive loyalty because they continue and support the preservation of existing values, the status quo. Traditional authority has the longest history. Patriarchal (and more rarely Matriarchal) societies gave rise to hereditary monarchies where authority was given to descendants of previous leaders. Followers submit to this authority because "we've always done it that way." Examples of traditional authoritarians include kings and queens.

Charismatic

Charismatic authority grows out of the personal charm or the strength of an individual personality (see cult of personality for the most extreme version). Charismatic regimes are often short lived, seldom outliving the charismatic figure that leads them. Examples include Hitler, Napoleon, and Mao.

Legal-rational

Legal-Rational authorities receive their ability to compel behavior by virtue of the office that they hold. It is the authority that demands obedience to the office rather than the office holder. Modern democracies are examples of legal-rational regimes.

References

GOMPERS,SAMUEL; “Men of Labor! Be Up and Doing,” editorial, American Federationist, May 1906, p. 319

Psychological

Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = "soul" or "mind", logos/-ology = "study of") is an academic and applied field involving the study of mind and behavior. "Psychology" also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. Psychology differs from sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science in part because it involves studying the mental processes and behavior of individuals (alone or in groups) rather than the behavior of the groups or aggregates themselves. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with the interaction of mental processes and behavior and of the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves. Although psychological questions were asked in antiquity (see Aristotle's De Memoria et Reminiscentia or "On Memory and Recollection"), psychology emerged as a separate discipline only recently. The first person to call himself a "psychologist", Wilhelm Wundt, opened the first psychological laboratory in 1879.

History

Main article: History of psychology History of psychology The late 19th century marks the start of psychology as a scientific enterprise. The year 1879 is commonly seen as the start of psychology as an independent field of study, because in that year German scientist Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research in Leipzig, Germany. Other important early contributors to the field include Hermann Ebbinghaus (a pioneer in studies on memory), the Russian Ivan Pavlov (who discovered the learning process of classical conditioning), and the Austrian Sigmund Freud. Freud's influence has been enormous, though more as cultural icon than a force in (scientific) psychology. Freud's basic theories postulated the existence in humans of various unconscious and instinctive "drives", and that the "self" existed as a perpetual battle between the desires and demands of the internal id, ego, and superego. The mid century saw a rejection of Freud's theories among many psychologists as being too unscientific, as well as a reaction against Edward Titchener's abstract approach to the mind. This led to the formulation of behaviorism by John B. Watson, which was popularized by B.F. Skinner. Behaviorism proposed epistemologically limiting psychological study to overt behavior, since that could be quantified and easily measured. Scientific knowledge of the "mind" was considered too metaphysical, hence impossible to achieve. The final decades of the 20th century have seen the rise of a new interdisciplinary approach to studying human psychology, known collectively as cognitive science. Cognitive science again considers the "mind" as a subject for investigation, using the tools of evolutionary psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, and neurobiology. This new form of investigation has proposed that a wide understanding of the human mind is possible, and that such an understanding may be applied to other research domains, such as artificial intelligence.

Principles of psychology

Mind and brain

Psychology does not necessarily refer to the brain or nervous system and can be framed purely in terms of phenomenological or information processing theories of the mind. Increasingly, though, an understanding of brain function is being included in psychological theory and practice, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience.

Schools of thought

Various schools of thought have argued for a particular model to be used as a guiding theory by which all, or the majority, of human behavior can be explained. The popularity of these has waxed and waned over time. Some psychologists may think of themselves as adherents to a particular school of thought and reject the others, although most consider each as an approach to understanding the mind, and not necessarily as mutually exclusive theories. See psychological schools of thought for a comprehensive list.

Scope of psychology

Psychology is an extremely broad field, encompassing many different approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior. Below are the major areas of inquiry that comprise psychology. A comprehensive list of the sub-fields and areas within psychology can be found at the list of psychological topics.

Biological basis: the brain

list of psychological topics Main articles: Behavioral neuroscience, Cognitive neuroscience, Neuropsychology, Evolutionary psychology Because all behavior is controlled by the central nervous system, it is sensible to study how the brain functions in order to understand behavior. This is the approach taken in behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and Neuropsychology. Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific psychological processes. Often neuropsychologists are employed as scientists to advance scientific or medical knowledge. Neuropsychology is particularly concerned with the understanding of brain injury in an attempt to work out normal psychological function. The approach of cognitive neuroscience to studying the link between brain and behavior is to use brain imaging tools, such as fMRI, to observe which areas of the brain are active during a particular task.

Information processing: the mind

fMRI Main articles: Cognitive psychology, Cognitive science The nature of thought is another core interest in psychology. Cognitive psychology studies cognition, the mental processes underlying behavior. It uses information processing as a framework for understanding the mind. Perception, learning, problem solving, memory, attention, language and emotion are all well researched areas. Cognitive psychology is associated with a school of thought known as cognitivism, whose adherents argue for an information processing model of mental function, informed by positivism and experimental psychology. Techniques and models from cognitive psychology are widely applied and form the mainstay of psychological theories in many areas of both research and applied psychology. Cognitive science is very closely related to cognitive psychology, but differs in some of the research methods used, and has a slightly greater emphasis on explaining mental phenomena in terms of both behavior and neural processing. Both areas use computational models to simulate phenomena of interest. Because mental events cannot directly be observed, computational models provide a tool for studying the functional organization of the mind. Such models give cognitive psychologists a way to study the "software" of mental processes independent of the "hardware" it runs on, be it the brain or a computer.

Change over time: development

computational models Main articles: Developmental psychology, Educational psychology Largely focusing on the development of the human mind through the life span, developmental psychology seeks to understand how people come to perceive, understand, and act within the world and how these processes change as they age. This may focus on intellectual, cognitive, neural, social, or moral development. Researchers who study children use a number of unique research methods to make observations in natural settings or to engage them in experimental tasks. Such tasks often resemble specially designed games and activities that are both enjoyable for the child and scientifically useful, and researchers have even devised clever methods to study the mental processes of small infants. In addition to studying children, developmental psychologists also study processes throughout the life span, especially at other times of rapid change (such as adolescence and old age). Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of development in context (The Ecology of Human Development - ISBN 0-674-22456-6) is influential in this field, as are those mentioned in "Educational psychology" immediately below, as well as many others. Developmental psychologists draw on the full range of theorists in scientific psychology to inform their research. Educational psychology largely seeks to apply much of this knowledge to understanding how learning can best take place in educational situations. Because of this, the work of child psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner has been influential in creating teaching methods and educational practices.

Interaction with others

Main articles: Social psychology, Community psychology, Personality psychology Social psychology is the study of the nature and causes of human social behavior, with an emphasis on how people think towards each other and how they relate to each other. Social Psychology aims to understand how we make sense of social situations. For example, this could involve the influence of others on an individual's behavior (e.g., conformity or persuasion), the perception and understanding of social cues, or the formation of attitudes or stereotypes about other people. Social cognition is a common approach and involves a mostly cognitive and scientific approach to understanding social behavior. A related area is Community psychology, which examines psychological and mental health issues on the level of the community rather than only on the level of the individual. "Sense of community" has become its conceptual center (Sarason, 1986; Chavis & Pretty, 1999). Personality psychology includes theories of career development.

Study of animals in psychology

Psychology as a science is primarily concerned with humans, although the behavior and mental processes of animals is also an important part of psychological research, either as a subject in its own right (e.g., animal cognition and ethology), or somewhat more controversially, as a way of gaining an insight into human psychology by means of comparison (including comparative psychology) or via animal models of emotional and behavior systems as seen in neuroscience of psychology ( e.g., affective neuroscience and social neuroscience).

Mental health

Main articles: Clinical psychology, Health psychology Clinical psychology is the application of psychology to the understanding, treatment, and assessment of psychopathology, behavioral or mental health issues. It has traditionally been associated with counselling and psychotherapy, although modern clinical psychology may take an eclectic approach, including a number of therapeutic approaches. Typically, although working with many of the same clients as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists do not prescribe psychiatric drugs. Some clinical psychologists may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury. This area is known as clinical neuropsychology. In recent years and particularly in the United States, a major split has been developing between academic research psychologists in universities and some branches of clinical psychology. Many academic psychologists believe that these clinicians use therapies based on discredited theories and unsupported by empirical evidence of their effectiveness. From the other side, these clinicians believe that the academics are ignoring their experience in dealing with actual patients. The disagreement has resulted in the formation of the American Psychological Society by the research psychologists as a new body distinct from the American Psychological Association. Whereas clinical psychology focuses on mental health and neurological illness, health psychology is concerned with the psychology of a much wider range of health-related behavior including healthy eating, the doctor-patient relationship, a patient's understanding of health information, and beliefs about illness. Health psychologists may be involved in public health campaigns, examining the impact of illness or health policy on quality of life or in research into the psychological impact of health and social care.

Applied psychology

Main articles: Applied psychology, Industrial and organizational psychology, Forensic psychology, Human factors The basic premise of applied psychology is the use of psychological principles and theories to overcome practical problems in other fields, such as business management, product design, ergonomics, nutrition, and clinical medicine. Applied psychology includes the areas of industrial/organizational psychology, human factors, forensic psychology, as well as many other areas.

Industrial and organizational

Industrial and organizational psychology focuses to varying degrees on the psychology of the workforce, customer, and consumer, including issues such as the psychology of recruitment, selecting employees from an applicant pool which overall includes training, performance appraisal, job satisfaction, work behavior,