Handbook of Military Sciences

This open access handbook is a major reference work in the field of Military Sciences. It provides a thematic introduction to a broad range of sub-fields and perspectives concerned with the military as an institution, professional practice, and object of scholarly inquiry.

The handbook is intended for scholars, students, military professionals, and others seeking a structured introduction to the concepts, traditions, and bodies of knowledge that contribute to the study of the military. By bringing together contributions from different disciplinary and professional perspectives, it offers a point of orientation within the broader landscape of Military Sciences.

Section Editors:

Anders McD Sookermany, Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo, Norway (Philosophy of Military Sciences)
Harald Høiback, The Armed Forces Museum, Oslo, Norway (Military Operations)
Niels Bo Poulsen, Institute of Defense Studies,Norwegian Defence University College, Oslo Denmark (Military History)
Patricia M. Shields,Department of Political Science (Retired),Texas State University, San Marcos, USA (Military and Society)
Carsten F. Rønnfeldt, Norwegian Defence University College/NorwegianMilitary Academy, Oslo, Norway (International Relations and the Military)
Irina Goldenberg, Department of National Defence,Director Research Operational and OrganizationalAnalysis, Director General Military Personnel,Research and Analysis Nepean,                                     ON, Canada (Military Behavioural Sciences)
Michael Holenweger, OSTRAL, Association of Swiss Electricity Companies (VSE), Aarau, Switzerland (Military Leadership)
Martin Elbe, Center of Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr,Potsdam, Germany (Military Leadership)
Franz Kernic, Military Academy at ETH Zürich,Zürich, Switzerland(Military Leadership)
Joseph Soeters,Emeritus Professor of organizational sociology at the Netherlands Defense Academy andTilburg University Vught, The Netherlands (Military Management,                                                Economics  and Logistics)
Ben Zweibelson,US Army, Retired Colorado Springs, CO, USA (Military Design)
Aubrey Poe, Independent Consultant (Military Design)

Anders McD Sookermany is Professor of Pedagogy, holds a Dr. Philos. in Educational Sciences, and is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Norwegian Armed Forces. He serves at the Norwegian Defence University College Command and Staff College, where he teaches and conducts research within military strategy, joint operations, professional military education, and the philosophy of military sciences. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Handbook of Military Sciences and currently serves as a Council Member of the International Society of Military Sciences (ISMS), having previously served as its President.

Throughout his academic career, Sookermany has worked across disciplinary boundaries, drawing on perspectives from sport sciences, pedagogy, philosophy, educational sciences, and military studies. While much of his work has focused on training, performance, culture, and professional development in military contexts, his broader scholarly interest concerns how military professions develop, organize, and understand their own knowledge and practice.

This interest has led him beyond questions of education and professional learning toward wider inquiries concerning the intellectual foundations of military professions and the development of Military Sciences as an academic field. His research is characterized by a sustained effort to examine taken-for-granted assumptions, explore alternative ways of understanding military phenomena, and investigate how professional communities create, maintain, challenge, and legitimize knowledge.

Prior to his current position, he has held a range of academic leadership roles, including Research Director at both the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences Defence Institute and the Norwegian Defence University College Command and Staff College, as well as Program Director for the Master's Programme in Military Studies. He has also served on the editorial boards of Armed Forces & Society and the Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies.

His involvement in the Handbook of Military Sciences reflects a long-standing interest in the relationships between military practice, professional education, scholarly inquiry, and the collective efforts through which academic fields come to understand and organize themselves.