Liberal thinking seems to have come out on top in the battle of principles and yet it is fundamentally incompatible with the concept of military duty. How can one defend to the death a society whose aim is one’s own preservation? How can one believe that economic development will necessarily lead to the end of all conflict? To respond to this liberal paradox, we have to look at conflict in a different light, which can be useful and creative. Above all, we have to create a new basis for military duty by rekindling common values within our liberal societies. Working from a fertile base level of common values is essential to the notion of collective obligation. Rediscovered patriotism and common conviction with regard to national interests will go hand in hand with renewed commitment to these universal values in justifying military duty.
Liberalism and Military Duty
A free-thinking approach to problems would appear to have won the battle of principles, even if only temporarily, to the extent that it is now viewed as the only universal ideology worthy of the name. There are two aspects to this approach, both of which are steadily taking over the entire world: political liberalism, which relies on the rule of law to protect it, and economic liberalism, in which market forces have become the new religion. Yet despite this, liberal thinking is fundamentally incompatible with the concept of military duty, since it stems from a rejection of war in reaction to the horrors of religious wars.(1) Military duty is one of society’s institutionalised collective commitments, performed for the common good. It is the very foundation of legitimate use of force of arms and justifies the existence of a special category of citizen, military personnel, to employ such force.
Today’s liberal societies afford us many great benefits and yet we need to rekindle within them the idea of collective values in order to re-establish the idea of military duty. These societal values cover a wide range, starting with the establishment of a set of simple, everyday rules to govern communal life, include renewed patriotism and extend as far as a statement of universal values.
Liberalism and Military Duty—Reluctant Bedfellows
The intellectual incompatibility between liberalism and military duty raises some questions. Not all ideas and concepts drift around forever in intellectual clouds: some are indeed put to work for man’s good or ill. Liberalism is a good example of this, since it was preceded by three centuries of philosophical maturing and its coming owes nothing to chance or need.(2)
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