Peacekeeping And The Just War Tradition PDF Download

In the following monograph, Major Tony Pfaff, a former Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy, addresses an important source of much of the confusion that currently surrounds many of the Operations Other Than War (OOTW) that the military finds itself participating in with increasing frequency. The author points out that, though the source of this confusion is primarily ethical, it has important operational implications as well. In the Just War Tradition, as well as the Law of War, there has always been a tension between winning and fighting well, and the peacekeeping environment does not change this. Commonly, the resolution of this tension is expressed in the maxim: always use the least amount of force necessary to achieve the military objective. This maxim applies, regardless of the environment one is in. The author's contention is, however, that the understanding of necessary is radically different in the peacekeeping environment than what it is in more conventional operations. Others have intuitively grasped this point. At the International Military Ethics Symposium in Trondheim, Norway, for example, the Judge Advocate General for the Norwegian Army claimed that the police ethical doctrine is the most appropriate one for peacekeeping missions. He did not, however, explain why. By comparing and contrasting military and police ethics with the range of environments in which soldiers find themselves, the author tries to fill this void by first demonstrating that the Just War Tradition, as generally understood, cannot extend to peacekeeping operations. The author then discusses what must be done to solve this problem and, by so doing, resolve much of the confusion generated when soldiers look like policemen on the outside but have to think like soldiers on the inside. Thus, this monograph should be of great interest not only to those in the field who are routinely confronted with the ambiguities of the peacekeeping environment, but also to those charged with forming the policies that those in the field must observe. This monograph is being published in cooperation with the Center for the Professional Military Ethic to enhance discussion of military professionalism within the Army and sister services.