We all want the military to side with justice against oppression, with the good guys against the bad guys … but when society’s consensus on precisely those things has broken down, it’s not easy to find a rule that tells the military whether to side with the authorities or the people in the street 8/

When this happens, the distance between law and justice has become too stark; the state and the nation (or bits of it) are at odds; the concept of rule of law is no longer neutral but defense of one order against another possible order 7/

… but sometimes power shifts and there are groups that are unhappy w the institutions as they are, and those institutions suffer a loss of legitimacy. When this happens, the institutions must either adapt with the shift in political power, or resist and attempt to subdue the opposition 6/

Basically the difficulty is that democracy is a constant balancing act among groups of people and institutions, and sometimes the balance is good and everyone *who has political power* is happy and then the rule of law is straightforward and the institutions defend the process … 5/

I’m not claiming to have The Answer; I’m saying whatever the answer is, it’s way more difficult than “just disobey when you believe the authority is illegitimate”. 4/

… and claiming the professional norm of political neutrality gives them not only an opportunity but a duty to disobey those orders is, in my opinion, both historically inaccurate (re: the development of the norm) and too simplistic as an ethical guideline 3/

The question of what a military servicemember should do when they think civilians are acting *illegitimately* as opposed to *unlawfully* is one of the hardest philosphical, moral, ethical, and practical Qs I can think of … 2/

All of this. Parsons is raising important questions, but I think his answers are too pat. 1/

JBprofjessblankshain.bsky.socialOct 1, 2024 12:17am

Ok, I've seen this piece on military obedience shared enough that I feel the need to respond. tl;dr I agree that "obey all legal orders" can feel like a dangerous oversimplification at times, but this goes way too far in the opposite direction #CivMilSky 1/? www.nytimes.com/2024/09/29/o...

Opinion | There’s a Dangerous Misconception About the Military’s Obligations to the President

The prospect of a second Trump administration has rekindled an important debate from four years ago.

Woohoo just presented a paper on this at APSA … you are so right and we really suck at this

Looking forward to this - my students are always interested in the relationship between the US and the ICC