The field of military ethics has generally been attentive to emerging trends in modern warfare. Cyber, robotics and AI, for example, have inspired an abundant and flourishing literature. One trend, however, has been largely overlooked: the emergence of special operations as a prominent instrument of statecraft. Drawing extensively on historical cases and first-hand experience, the authors of this book call attention to qualities inherent in special operations – and special operators – that...

This book debates competing approaches to ethical decision-making for members of the armed forces of liberal democratic states.In this volume, four prominent thinkers propose and debate competing approaches to ethical decision-making for military personnel. Deane-Peter Baker presents and expounds the ‘Ethical Triangulation’ model, an ethical decision-making method he has employed through much of his career as an applied military ethicist. Rufus Black advocates for a natural law-bas...

The twenty-first century has brought the perfect storm of conditions to create substantive global instability. This contemporary operating environment (COE) is characterized by complexity, ambiguity, volatility, and constant danger. It is a human invention that requires a human solution.Special operations forces (SOF), a group comprised of highly trained personnel with the ability to deploy rapidly and apply special skills in a variety of environments and circumstances, is the logi...

The Routledge Handbook of Military Ethics is a comprehensive reference work that addresses concerns held in common by the military services of many nations. It attempts to discern both moral dilemmas and clusters of moral principles held in common by all practitioners of this profession, regardless of nation or culture.Comprising essays by contributors drawn from the four service branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine corps) as well as civilian academics specializing ...

Events at Abu Ghraib prison and the 1968 My Lai Massacre show that the behaviour of the military can descend into barbarism. How strong is the military's commitment to avoiding such atrocities? Ethics Under Fire – a timely and compelling book – asks questions and raises issues the Australian Army can't ignore. Including chapters on social media and violence, cyberweapons, ethics in special operations, and humanitarian deployments, leading military personnel, aid workers, commentat...

Following on from Ethics Education in the Military (eds. Paul Robinson, Nigel de Lee and Don Carrick: Ashgate 2008) which surveyed and critically analyzed the existing theory and practice of educating soldiers, sailors and airmen in the ethics of 'old fashioned' warfaring, this volume considers the extent to which such theory and practice is adequate to prepare members of the military to meet the more complex ethical challenges faced when engaging in irregular warfare in the 21st century. ...

David Kilcullen is one of the world's most influential experts on counterinsurgency and modern warfare, a ground-breaking theorist whose ideas "are revolutionizing military thinking throughout the west" (Washington Post). Indeed, his vision of modern warfare powerfully influenced the United States' decision to rethink its military strategy in Iraq and implement "the Surge," now recognized as a dramatic success. In Counterinsurgency, Kilcullen brings together his most salient writings on th...

When the State Meets the Street probes the complex moral lives of street-level bureaucrats: the frontline social and welfare workers, police officers, and educators who represent government’s human face to ordinary citizens. Too often dismissed as soulless operators, these workers wield a significant margin of discretion and make decisions that profoundly affect people’s lives. Combining insights from political theory with his own ethnographic fieldwork as a receptionist in an urb...

Understanding Modern Warfare has established itself as the leading introduction to the issues, ideas, concepts and context necessary to understand the theory and conduct of warfare in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is an invaluable text for military professionals and students of military history. Key features include: incisive coverage of the debates surrounding contemporary and future warfare; accessible, yet sophisticated, discussion across the land, sea, and air environmen...

This book is an edited collection of original papers which challenge in a very direct manner the dominant behviourist and functionalist views that have come to entrap those who live, work and conduct research in the areas of educational leadership, and focusing instead on the structures and processes within schools as organisations that frustrate, distort and ultimately stifle educative relationships the writers provide a much needed way of reconceptualising both thought and action in so-c...

Can war be morally justified? What is the philosophy behind armed conflict? How do you conduct an ethical war? And what guides military action as the nature of conflict changes over time? Based on a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) designed for both military personnel and non-specialists across the globe, Military Ethics: An introduction is structured as a series of 'mini-chapters' that cover a huge range of topics and issues: moral dilemmas, military and civilian interactions, f...

The radical transformation that universities are undergoing today is no less far-reaching than the upheavals that it experienced in the 1960s. However today, when almost 50 per cent of young people participate in higher education, what occurs in universities matters directly to the whole of society.On both sides of the Atlantic curious and disturbing events on campuses has become a matter of concern not just for academics but also for the general public. What is one to make of the ...