Overview
- Discusses contemporary questions about the nature of military’s obedience
- Emphasizes the importance of ethical disobedience as a tool to humanize human conflicts
- Valuable for undergraduates, graduate students, members of the armed forces in military academies and scholars studying the Just War Theory
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About this book
We often think of the army as an institution whose members are required to blindly obey all orders they receive. However, this perception is inaccurate. Disobedience is a fundamental professional obligation of members of the military and overrides the obligation to follow commands. But what is the extent of this obligation? Are soldiers obligated to participate in what they consider to be an illegal war, or should they be allowed to enjoy a right to selective conscientious objection? Should soldiers obey a legal order that, if followed, would facilitate the perpetration of war crimes by a third party? How should soldiers act if they are ordered to follow a lawful order that could result in immoral consequences? Should soldiers be allowed to refuse to obey what can be labeled as suicidal orders? Based upon the nature of soldiers’ professional obligations, this book tries to offer answers to these important questions. The author turns to a number of different case-studies, including conscientious objections, duty to protect in genocidal situations such as Rwanda and Srebrenica, suicidal orders in wars, as well as retribution and leniency towards war criminals, as a way of assessing the different legal and ethical implications of disobedience in the military.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Jean-François Caron is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, where he teaches Political Theory.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Disobedience in the Military
Book Subtitle: Legal and Ethical Implications
Authors: Jean-François Caron
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93272-9
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-93271-2Published: 23 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-93272-9Published: 12 July 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 127
Topics: Military and Defence Studies, International Security Studies, Conflict Studies, International Humanitarian Law, Law of Armed Conflict