Description
Few issues are more important to armies than their capacity to adapt when required. For this purpose, scholars of Security Studies have extensively investigated a multitude of dimensions of military change, including doctrines, technologies, and strategies. Yet, all-female military units (AFMUs) represent a key, underexplored form of military adaptation. Looking into them is now even more important, given that since the mid-2000s, across different continents and military operations, an ever-growing number of countries have developed this asset, especially within peacekeeping operations (PKOs). What explains the diffusion of AFMUs in military interventions? To answer this question, the article first critically reviews offered explanations in the literature and reveals their limitations. In the light of these shortcomings, the paper proposes a new framework — the ‘‘Adaptation Cascade’’ Model — that can make sense of the variations in timing of spreading of AFMUs. To preview the conclusions, the diffusion of such practice occurs through emulation and varies according to the compatibility level with the military change introduced and geographical distance from the epicentre of change. This article makes three contributions. First, by presenting AFMUs as a neglected dimension of military change, it expands our understanding of how armies adapt in military interventions both in peacetime and wartime. Second, it proposes a new framework that defines the distinctive phases of military change, its timing, and the interplay between different stages in the process of military adaptation. Third, by probing this model on an in-depth case study of the American, Italian and Lebanese cases, it provides the first, fine-grained, empirical, comparative analysis of a major instance of AFMUs in PKOs, the Female Engagement Team.
