Abstract
Although obligation in the military world implies a strict duty to obey the orders that are given, this obligation is conditional on the lawfulness of these orders. In other words, soldiers have the moral duty to disobey orders that would lead them to commit unlawful actions. Therefore, ethical disobedience is an important feature of the armed forces and cannot be ignored. This text contemplates an extended version of this logic by considering whether or not soldiers have the duty to disobey lawful orders that, if respected, will likely result in harm to civilians, such as war crimes and/or genocide. Based on the examples of the genocide of Srebrenica in 1995 and Rwanda in 1994 and from moral arguments, this text discusses that ethical disobedience should include such a possibility.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-20 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Critical Military Studies |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2 2019 |
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Keywords
- duty to rescue
- Ethical disobedience
- military
- protection of civilians
- Rwanda
- Srebrenica
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- History
- Sociology and Political Science
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Political Science and International Relations
- Management Science and Operations Research
- Law
Cite this
Exploring the extent of ethical disobedience through the lens of the Srebrenica and Rwanda genocides : can soldiers disobey lawful orders? / Caron, Jean François.
In: Critical Military Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, 02.01.2019, p. 1-20.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the extent of ethical disobedience through the lens of the Srebrenica and Rwanda genocides
T2 - can soldiers disobey lawful orders?
AU - Caron, Jean François
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - Although obligation in the military world implies a strict duty to obey the orders that are given, this obligation is conditional on the lawfulness of these orders. In other words, soldiers have the moral duty to disobey orders that would lead them to commit unlawful actions. Therefore, ethical disobedience is an important feature of the armed forces and cannot be ignored. This text contemplates an extended version of this logic by considering whether or not soldiers have the duty to disobey lawful orders that, if respected, will likely result in harm to civilians, such as war crimes and/or genocide. Based on the examples of the genocide of Srebrenica in 1995 and Rwanda in 1994 and from moral arguments, this text discusses that ethical disobedience should include such a possibility.
AB - Although obligation in the military world implies a strict duty to obey the orders that are given, this obligation is conditional on the lawfulness of these orders. In other words, soldiers have the moral duty to disobey orders that would lead them to commit unlawful actions. Therefore, ethical disobedience is an important feature of the armed forces and cannot be ignored. This text contemplates an extended version of this logic by considering whether or not soldiers have the duty to disobey lawful orders that, if respected, will likely result in harm to civilians, such as war crimes and/or genocide. Based on the examples of the genocide of Srebrenica in 1995 and Rwanda in 1994 and from moral arguments, this text discusses that ethical disobedience should include such a possibility.
KW - duty to rescue
KW - Ethical disobedience
KW - military
KW - protection of civilians
KW - Rwanda
KW - Srebrenica
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U2 - 10.1080/23337486.2017.1278920
DO - 10.1080/23337486.2017.1278920
M3 - Article
VL - 5
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Critical Military Studies
JF - Critical Military Studies
SN - 2333-7486
IS - 1
ER -