The Soldier as Lethal Warrior and Cooperative Political Agent: On the Soldier’s Ethical and Political Obligations toward the Indigenous Other

Abstract

An adequate configuration of the military ethic, which encompasses the U.S. Army’s professional and ethical self-understanding, should integrate the soldier’s ethicopolitical obligations toward the indigenous other; that is, the person who lives where soldiers are deployed. The argument first posits a distinction between cosmopolitan and patriotic configurations of the soldier’s obligations. David Petraeus’s counterinsurgency guidance typifies the former; Matthew Moten’s configuration of the professional military ethic typifies the latter. Second, Hannah Arendt’s distinction between Work and Action instructs that one does not “build” a polity; political foundations are fugitive and unpredictable. Third, considering Arendt’s theory and current missions, the soldier as a political agent cannot produce stability or build a nation with instrumental certitude; however, the soldier can foster conditions and intervene in ways to nudge circumstances toward a better state of affairs. Finally, military professionals should cultivate a cosmopolitan attitude informed by William Connolly’s ethos of engagement to help them fulfill their obligations to the other.