18
ones, and inculcate liberal values in a direct and conscious attempt to transform the identities of
the actors involved.
38
Indeed, socialization is often defined as a process by which novices become incorporated
into organized patterns of interaction. Socialization not only develops habits that eventually are
taken for granted; it is also claimed that continuous interaction with individuals placed in
particular environments can change habits, expectations, beliefs, preferences and even
identities.
39
As Robert Jervis argues, “because the incentives facing each other actor are
influenced by what others are expected to do, feedbacks can be central to the patterns that
develop… the frequency of a form of behavior can change rapidly as one person’s movement
leads at least one other to follow suit, which in turn sets off a cascade of changes.”
40
For
instance, learning a foreign language by studying abroad may produce deeper changes in a
person’s life. He/she will not only develop new skills, but actually discover different ways to
appreciate and judge the world. “Interaction and experience can produce deeper changes in our
values and thus determine our later behavior… people change as they are affected by experiences,
including those that they have chosen.”
41
However, part of the problem in understanding the effects of socialization has to do with
the fact that (1) very few authors make their dependent variable explicit and (2) its mechanisms
are often assumed rather than described. The operation of socialization will be simply asserted
instead of being demonstrated. Authors arguing against and in favor of security institutions tend
to talk past each other and most of the literature uses terms such as civilian control and
professionalism interchangeably. Hence, engaging the armed forces in international security
institutions is often justified because it is assumed that it will help the soldier to become (1) more
professional, while, simultaneously, (2) contributing to subjugate the military officer to a civilian
authority. These are two very different dependent variables that are not subject to the same
mechanisms due to unintended effects unleashed when soldiers socialize.
Convention