The Rise of US Military Legalism

A New Theory of Military Professionalism
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-041-06475-6
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 238 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 526 g

Reihe: Contemporary Security Studies

This book introduces and explains the concept of military legalism, and analyzes its importance for US military decision-making.

The book documents a change over the past 50 years in the way in which US military officers make decisions about using force, which it calls "military legalism". Rather than relying solely on professional military judgment and professional military ethics, officers are increasingly using legal norms and reasoning to justify their choices. This book explores how widespread this practice has become, explains why it has emerged, and examines some of its implications. Using historical cases from World War II through the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, this book traces changes in the way in which civilian policymakers have governed US military decisions about the use of force, and how the military has responded to these changes. While military legalism is normatively neither good nor bad, legalistic reasoning has been used to justify morally deficient policies, and a reliance on legal reasoning may have unanticipated and unexamined effects on the norms of civil-military relations.

This book will be of interest to students of law, military studies, ethics, and International Relations.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate, Professional Reference, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hodges, Doyle K.

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Diplomatie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Staatsbürgerkunde, Staatsbürgerschaft, Zivilgesellschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Nationale und Internationale Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Introduction: What is Military Legalism? Chapter 2: How Widespread is Military Legalism Chapter 3: What Causes Military Legalism? Chapter 4: The Path to Military Legalism Chapter 5: Military Legalism in Wars Big and Small Chapter 6: The Implications and Future of Military Legalism Appendix A: A Brief Primer on Military Justice and Discipline

Über Autor(innen)

Doyle K. Hodges is the Dean of Academic Affairs at the US Naval War College, Newport, RI. He is a retired Naval officer and has a PhD in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University.