Ethical aspects of military leadership in modern warfare (Memoirs of the Commanders-in-Chief in Afghanistan and Chechnya)
While modern normative approaches to ethics of war (just war theories) stumble over theoretical aporia of legitimating “collective organized violence” such as the war, anthropological approaches to the practical ethics of the military servicemen focus on the lived moral experience and th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Filozofija i Društvo |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0353-5738/2022/0353-57382204777M.pdf |
| Summary: | While modern normative approaches to ethics of war (just war theories)
stumble over theoretical aporia of legitimating “collective organized
violence” such as the war, anthropological approaches to the practical
ethics of the military servicemen focus on the lived moral experience and
the enacted values of individuals who were placed in the situation of “total
violence”. Drawing on the memoirs of two generals who were
Commanders-in-Chief in Afghanistan (B. Gromov) and in Chechnya (G.
Troshev), the article explores the ethos of military leadership in modern
warfare. The article demonstrates that strategic planning of military
operations is inseparable from political goals and, therefore, involves
military leadership in reflection on whether political goals are legitimate,
whether national (and international) civil society should give its support
to the military, whether military means are the best option for solving the
crisis, and whether there is a viable exit strategy. Both generals declare
the fundamental principle of sparing as many lives of their troops as
possible in achieving their military objectives. But this principle, in the
first case, leads to various attempts at “freezing” hostilities between
opposing forces, whereas in the second step it requires ultimate destruction
of the enemy no matter the cost. Thus, the text argues that the ethics of
war and the ethos of the military leadership are determined by the way their
opponent is framed by the political leadership. In both generals’ view,
military hostilities ultimately result from political failures. |
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| ISSN: | 0353-5738 2334-8577 |