MILITARISM AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF COMMUNITY

This article analyzes the ways ir? which the state in Israel, through an array of material and symbolic practices, constitutes the subjectiv ity of its members and gears them to participate in the production and reproduction and reproduction of the state's power. By focusing on mi litary service, and particularly on the reserves system, it is claimed that the sustained participation of Israeli-Jewish males in the milit ary rests upon its construction in terms of a community. Belonging to this community of warriors is experienced in terms of embeddedness in society, as a criterion of normalcy and as an entitlement that legitim izes participation in the associations of civil society. The yearly pa rticipation in the reserves and its construction in terms of a communi ty both generates and regenerates the subjectivity of Israeli-Jewish m ales. It is further claimed that conscription frameworks are an integr al part of the totalizing and individuating technologies of the stare in Israel. The article emphasizes two aspects of these technologies: h ow human beings are individuated through the signification of their va lue, and how this statement becomes a cornerstone for the formation of a community. It is concluded that the construction of military servic e and its perception in terms of a community has allowed the Israeli s tate to maintain a highly motivated reservoir of manpower, always read y to pursue the state's gee-political goals even under conditions of s evere opposition.