Description
How can academic systematically understand the relationship between state demands and citizen's compliance during wartime or approaching wartime? Whilst social contract theory helps us understand a broader concept behind the demands and obligations of citizenry, it often remains difficult to operationalise empiracally. This paper develops a structure qualitative framework to understand how democratic states can generate and sustain military and strategic labour mobilisation under conditions of insecurity.
The paper proposes a three-dimensional approach to operationalise the social contract through the lenses of obligations, protections, and fairness as three dimensions that shape mobilisation outcomes. To capture the dynamics, the paper will outline a comparative reserach design combining elite interviews with structured document analysis across three contracting cases, relating to the UK, Ukraine, and Finland in comtemporary wartime discussions.
Methodologically, the paper contributes by trying to translate abstract political theory into a replicable analytical template for such qualitative research. It draws upon existing doctoral work by the researcher and designed for broader comparative application.