International Military Practice Amidst Ethical Heterogeneity

Abstract

How does ethical heterogeneity complicate multinational operations? The U.S. military is increasingly reliant on cooperation with interagency, interorganizational, and international military forces. Multinational operations bring together actors who possess varying ethical foundations, training, and conceptions that inform their rules of engagement and ethical conduct on the battlefield. I explore the effects of these contrasting ethical narratives between international and American officers, drawing upon the survey results and findings of the Military Health Advisory Team IV. I propose a theory to interpret the ethically constituted stories of heterogeneous groups. This theory serves to improve individual understanding of one's deep ethical beliefs with the result that a soldier is better able to link her own deeply-held beliefs to the officially-held professional and international codes; and more space for a dialogue amongst joint, multinational, and interagency partners appears in which to improve ethical practices.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 13, 2013
Accession Number
ADA598980

Entities

People

  • Phillip Breton

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Data Analysis
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Governments
  • Institutional Review Board
  • International Law
  • International Relations
  • Iraqi-War
  • Law
  • Military Art
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Rules Of Engagement
  • Students
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Theoretical Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Space