Samenvatting

In the concluding reflection, the editors look back at the contributions, discuss salient connections and identify future challenges for the military organisation. The articles indicate that the military organisation will have to be able to navigate much more between its various main tasks than before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while at the same time it appears that technological changes are making military deployment more complex. The proverbial gap between thinking and doing plays a central role in the dynamics between legitimacy, accountability and reflexivity. In addition, it appears that the military organisation is becoming increasingly intertwined with a larger ‘governance network’ of external and internal parties, which also creates dependencies from parties not associated with political authority. Ultimately, a research agenda with three main themes is formulated. The various developments point to the importance of thinking about designing the military organisation of the future. The growing complexity of the governance networks surrounding the armed forces leads to questions about organising responsibility. Finally, the importance of organising a ‘democratic dialogue’ about the future of the military is discussed in which the various questions of legitimacy, responsibility and reflexivity can be addressed in a transparent manner.