Broadening the Perspective on Military Cohesion? A Reply

In 2018, Ilmari Kaikho published a special collection inArmed Forces & Societyon the debate about small unit cohesion. Later, in reaction to a response by Guy Siebold, he published a further intervention with Peter Halden. Focusing on my 2006 article in the journal and my subsequent debate, Kaikho has claimed that the cohesion debate is too narrow. It ignores organizational factors in the armed forces and wider political factors, including nationalism and state policy. Consequently, it is incapable of analyzing non-Western state or irregular forces and is only relevant for the 20th and 21st centuries. This response shows that while Kaikho's extension of the empirical archive to non-Western armed groups is to be welcomed, none of his theoretical claims are sustainable.