Scuola Universitaria Interdipartimentale in Scienze Strategiche (SUISS)

The Course aims at giving firstly a basic knowledge of the main sociological theories and concepts applied to the military, in order to acquire the knowledge of the most important changes in the armed forces related to the economic, technological, sociocultural and geopolitical environments.
Secondly, these subjects are considered with particular attention for those WAR and CRO-Crises Response Operations contexts, highly relevant for every military organisation, in order to prepare cadets to understand armed forces and society relationships, being able to professionally cooperate in intercultural and multicultural environments such as national and international organisations in strategic, political and economic sectors, military and civil as well.
Such selected topics are oriented to the general goals of the Master Course in Strategic and Military Studies devoted to Italian Army Cadets.
The course is tought in Italian.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Having acquired adequate knowledge of the main change processes within military organizations and of military-society relationships, students should be able to:
Understand the main situations, with reference to Asymmetric Conflicts and Counterinsurgency
Be able to cope with main social problems within military organisations and to understand armed forces & society relationships, with special reference to conflict and/or post-conflict socio-political environments in multicultural societies.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Ability to evaluate and apply appropriate solutions to problematic situations in military organisations and armed forces and society relationships.

INDEPENDENT JUDGEMENT
Autonomy in analytical evaluation processes.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Ability to communicate and explain analysis results in multicultural and complex environments.

LEARNING SKILLS
Autonomous ability to deepen and improve further knowledge useful for professional work.A

The teaching provides first of all some basic knowledge of general sociology necessary for the study of military organizations. These contents represent central elements of sociology applied to the study of military organizations, both with regard to conventional activities (WAR environment) and for new missions other than war (C.R.O.-Crises Response Operations environment).

The major theories on the military profession and on contemporary military organizations are then developed, with particular reference to:

The three revolutions of military institutions: professionalism, R.O, cultural diversity and flexibility in military personnel;
The problem of efficiency in military organizations in WAR and C.R.O.
Cultural diversity in the C.R.O.s
Family and gender issues in the armed forces
The processes of realization of leadership in military organizations; leadership styles, changes in organizational and cultural styles and context. In particular:
Power and authority
Leadership and the different approaches: personological, interactive and functionalist
Transformational leadership
Leadership and cultural diversity

LESSONS

Halfway through the course, partial written exam with multiple choice questions and a discursive question on a central topic, on about half of the program with validity of exemption.

At the end of the course, Final exam: first session written exam in the same way as that indicated for the first partial exam, on the remainder of the program.

Evaluations out of thirty with final average on the results of the two tests.

Subsequent sessions: oral exam with open questions on the whole program and evaluation out of thirty.

Learning disabilities/disorders procedures:

To take the exams with the support of compensatory tools and / or dispensatory measures, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the University regulations and policies. In particular:

at the beginning of each semester, present your difficulties (via email or in person) to the teacher, specifying that you are in charge of the Office for Students with Disabilities and SLD
about 30 days before the exam date, send an email (from the institutional email address) to the teacher, attaching the request form for specific treatment.
This email must be sent for appropriate information (Cc.) also to the email address: ufficio.dsa@unito.it which, with the "silence / consent" will certify the correctness of the content of the declarations contained in the form.

The request form for specific treatment must reach the teacher sufficiently in advance, as indicated by the regulations and, in any case, NEVER after registering for the exam, when groups have been assigned and the exam organized (for example in the case of a written exam for the other students).

The exam is oral, in order to help the student as much as possible.

Using of concept maps, must be agreed in advance and, if allowed, they have to be sent the teacher at least 10 days before the examination.

The teacher is available during for explanations and clarifications also during the learning period.

The study materials, in the form of handouts, articles and essays, and corresponding slides, are provided by the teacher and uploaded on the SUISS CampusNET site and on the MOODLE platform of the specific course, for each of the indicated topics.

To these is added the text:

Olivetta E. Le culture della leadership, Bonanno, Roma, 2012

For all interested students, an in-depth study by choice of topics covered in the course is recommended, referring to the text (in English):

Caforio & M. Nuciari, Handbook of the Sociology of the Military, Springer International Publishing, AG, 2018
ISBN 978-3-319-71600-8  ISBN 978-3-319-71602-2 (eBook)