Ethics Education for Irregular Warfare

Building upon the themes considered in Ethics Education in the Military, the contributing authors survey and critically analyse existing theory and practice of educating soldiers, sailors and airmen in the ethics of 'old fashioned' warfaring. This volume considers the extent to which such theory and practice is adequate to prepare members of the military to meet the more complex ethical challenges faced when engaging in 21st century 'operations other than war', such as peacekeeping, peace enforcement and humanitarian intervention. Authors address issues of major and ongoing importance for military personnel of Western states. In recent years, events in Iraq and Afghanistan have highlighted the requirement that such personnel, drawn from the armed forces of many different countries, should behave in an ethical manner at all times. Public and political interest in such matters is intense, and the behaviour of armed forces personnel is the subject of unrelenting media scrutiny. Consequently, efforts to improve the ethical education of military personnel have acquired a high priority. Contributors to this book are a mixture of academics and practitioners from various disciplinary backgrounds, several of whom are serving or former officers in the military and most of whom are actively engaged in ethics education. Therefore they intend that their contributions will advance the theoretical understanding of different approaches to ethics education, as well as providing practical conclusions on a vital policy issue.