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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/197712
Risks and Fallacies of Expanding New Roles to the Military: The Case of the Spanish Emergency Military Unit; A Research Note.
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This article responds to the analysis about the Spanish Emergency Military Unit in the research note by Pérez et al. in Armed Forces & Society, which emphasizes the efficiency of the Spanish Emergency Military Unit and how it has enhanced the image of the Spanish Armed Forces. We believe that a more critical understanding of the development of this military unit is necessary, as its deployment pitfalls and the literature on civil-military relations were neglected. Consequently, four policy traps are identified: response to civilian emergencies has become a central task of the armed forces rather than an auxiliary role; behind the pragmatism of its employment, there is potential for a worsening of civil-military relations, as highlighted by the scholarly literature; there are serious inefficiencies in its organizational design, related to human and financial resources; and image improvement is an illusion, strongly conditioned by political cleavages, with potential long-term counterproductive results.
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BUENO, Alberto and MARTÍNEZ, Rafael. Risks and Fallacies of Expanding New Roles to the Military: The Case of the Spanish Emergency Military Unit; A Research Note. Armed Forces & Society. 2023. Vol. 1-9. ISSN 0095-327X. [consulted: 8 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/197712