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The Ethics of Military Leadership

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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

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Synonyms

Moral; Oath of Office; Military Orders; Commis-sions; Dissent; Disobedience; Character; Moral Courage; Trust; Respect

The Ethics of Military Leadership

While leadership is a fundamental requirement for any organization to meet its mission, the military has to adopt a different, even unique form of leadership. This article will explain this uniqueness and why the military has adopted these unique principles, values, and virtues.

Unique mission – the military is the only profession that has to intentionally take human life. Other professions, such as surgeons and airline pilots, have people’s lives in their hands. But the military is singularly required to “pull the trigger” and “push the button” that may intentionally take human life. The military also has to give orders to subordinates that may risk the lives of their troops. This tremendous but humbling responsibility needs to be taken with great care and a great sense of personal and institutional ethics.

The Oath

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, USA

    Rick Rubel

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  1. Rick Rubel
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Correspondence to Rick Rubel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

    Ali Farazmand

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Rubel, R. (2016). The Ethics of Military Leadership. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2192-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2192-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

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