Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts

In this paper author explores the possibility and implications of the emergence of the ethical problem of "dirty hands" outside of the context of political decision-making in the narrower sense, more precisely in the context of decisions made by members of the military profession in war. B...

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Main Author: Stanar Dragan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade, Serbia 2024-01-01
Series:Politika nacionalne bezbednosti
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Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-959X/2024/2334-959X2402013S.pdf
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author Stanar Dragan
author_facet Stanar Dragan
author_sort Stanar Dragan
collection DOAJ
description In this paper author explores the possibility and implications of the emergence of the ethical problem of "dirty hands" outside of the context of political decision-making in the narrower sense, more precisely in the context of decisions made by members of the military profession in war. By shortly analysing the nature of decision-making in war, the author determines an undisputable political character of war and, thus, the political implication of the decisions of military leaders. By notion-analysis of the phenomenon of "dirty hands", the author defines its explicit attributes and then applies them to the decision-making process of military leaders in war. By pointing out the characteristic circumstances under which the problem is generated in war and by creating an analogy with the sphere of political decision-making, the author defines two specific situations in which this problem can only occur - supreme emergency and collateral damage. The author proves that in situations of supreme emergency and collateral damage, all necessary conditions for the constitution of this ethics problem for military leaders who make political decisions in war are met and, in conclusion, offers an explanation of the importance and relevance of precise definition of the place and nature of the problem of "dirty hands" in the process of ethical leadership for proper perception of the moral nature of military profession in the contemporary era.
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spelling doaj-art-3d414718d074483bbf728b6362c25f252025-08-20T02:44:20ZengInstitute for Political Studies, Belgrade, SerbiaPolitika nacionalne bezbednosti2334-959X2024-01-01272132910.5937/pnb27-508282334-959X2402013SEthical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflictsStanar Dragan0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0759-5652Univerzitet odbrane, Institut za strategijska istraživanja, Beograd, SerbiaIn this paper author explores the possibility and implications of the emergence of the ethical problem of "dirty hands" outside of the context of political decision-making in the narrower sense, more precisely in the context of decisions made by members of the military profession in war. By shortly analysing the nature of decision-making in war, the author determines an undisputable political character of war and, thus, the political implication of the decisions of military leaders. By notion-analysis of the phenomenon of "dirty hands", the author defines its explicit attributes and then applies them to the decision-making process of military leaders in war. By pointing out the characteristic circumstances under which the problem is generated in war and by creating an analogy with the sphere of political decision-making, the author defines two specific situations in which this problem can only occur - supreme emergency and collateral damage. The author proves that in situations of supreme emergency and collateral damage, all necessary conditions for the constitution of this ethics problem for military leaders who make political decisions in war are met and, in conclusion, offers an explanation of the importance and relevance of precise definition of the place and nature of the problem of "dirty hands" in the process of ethical leadership for proper perception of the moral nature of military profession in the contemporary era.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-959X/2024/2334-959X2402013S.pdfdirty hands problemwarsupreme emergencycollateral damage
spellingShingle Stanar Dragan
Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts
Politika nacionalne bezbednosti
dirty hands problem
war
supreme emergency
collateral damage
title Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts
title_full Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts
title_fullStr Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts
title_full_unstemmed Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts
title_short Ethical leadership in the military profession and the "dirty hands" problem in contemporary armed conflicts
title_sort ethical leadership in the military profession and the dirty hands problem in contemporary armed conflicts
topic dirty hands problem
war
supreme emergency
collateral damage
url https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-959X/2024/2334-959X2402013S.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT stanardragan ethicalleadershipinthemilitaryprofessionandthedirtyhandsproblemincontemporaryarmedconflicts