What are armed forces for? The changing nature of military roles in Europe

European armed forces are currently undergoing a profound series of shifts in relation to their core roles. These changes are increasingly challenging long-held assumptions about what armed forces are for and how they should be structured and organized. This article argues that these changes have not primarily occurred in response to an objective, functional reassessment of the nature of the threat, as is assumed in much of the civil-military relations literature. Instead, new military roles are emerging as a consequence of domestic and international socio-political influences that shape states' perceptions of what their armed forces should look like and the purposes they should serve.