Killing with Culture: Anthropology’s Ethical Dilemma with War

ABSTRACT

This article highlights the difficulty of creating a code of ethics in anthropology, particularly one that appropriately addresses the nuanced nature of the military and the anthropologists who conduct research and disseminate information in the context of war. The article consults one of the most important books on this topic, George R. Lucas' Anthropologists in Arms (2009), along with several other relevant texts, and examines the ethical complexities and dilemmas American and European anthropologists faced during their involvement in both World Wars, as well as those faced during Vietnam and the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The article also examines the military's recruitment of cultural experts, the methods used to culturally engage combatants, and the criticisms against social scientists who choose to work as so-called military anthropologists. The anthropologists in this article risked academic exile conducting what some consider an adulteration of academic principles. The article contributes to the discourse regarding unconventional warfare and the methods used by the armed forces to better understand the cultural nuances of people, and to highlight the need for the development of a better anthropological code of ethics that accounts for the challenges of war.     

从传统儒家的“德治思想”到“以德治国”方略

传统儒家倡导"仁政",注重"德治",对封建社会秩序的稳定起到了积极的作用。当前,党中央提出"以德治国",既是对儒家"德治思想"在新的历史条件下作出的新阐释和新发展,同时又赋予它以新的内涵,对我们社会主义建设过程中保持政治秩序的稳定、经济的繁荣和持续发展有着非常重要的现实意义。     

毛泽东军事思想对古代兵学文化的传承与发展

毛泽东军事思想植根于中国古代兵学文化的土壤,它的战争观、军事伦理价值观、战争谋略法等思想,与中国古代社会"仁战"、"义战"、"以民为本"、"以奇制胜"、"以礼治军"等战略方法、战略思想一脉相承,同时也是对古代兵学文化的创造性发展,是中国革命战争实践、马列主义军事思想和古代兵学文化相结合的产物。     

基层警营文化建设存在的问题及对策

基层警营文化建设是公安边消警部队文化工作的基础和基层建设的重要保证,直接关系部队的稳定、官兵关系和谐以及官兵的健康成长。通过实地调研基层警营文化建设情况,发现存在的问题与不足,分析其成因,提出切实可行的解决对策。     

The correlates of transatlantic burden sharing: revising the agenda for theoretical and policy analysis

While recent work has attempted to update the research agenda for transatiantic defense burden-sharing, there remain significant gaps between the public choice defense economics literature and the security studies literature. The presence of such a gap is unfortunate, because defense spending choices are likely shaped by factors identified by the public choice literature, as well as the strategic and cultural variables that the security studies literature tends to focus on, as well as domestic macroeconomic factors. The independent variables identified in recent qualitative literature are extremely useful analytically, and, fortunately, they have reasonable proxies in available quantitative data, which enables scholars to study them across large groups of countries and many years. This article builds upon such work to synthesize the most notable of the factors identified in the current literature, and offers some common analytical ground that will benefit both scholars and practitioners..     

Too much Western bias? The need for a more culturally adaptable approach to post-conflict security sector reform

The existing guidelines for security sector reform (SSR) tend to draw on theoretical work in the field of civil–military relations, which in turn has been derived from Western, liberal democratic models of governance. Although guidelines strongly advise that local culture and context need to be considered when drawing up objectives for post-conflict SSR programmes, this is not often reflected in practice. This article considers some of the reasons for this, citing both in-country challenges and donor-related issues, and suggests that one of the biggest problems is a lack of alternative, non-orthodox models of civil–military relations to draw upon. It is further suggested that elements of suitable alternative models may be found in states which possess political structures not entirely dissimilar to the Western, liberal democratic ideal, but which can offer different perspectives. Detailed research of these structures should produce a pool of sub-models which could then be employed to create bespoke, culturally appropriate objectives for use in post-conflict SSR programmes.     

对我国维和警察在任务区进行文化传播的思考

文化影响力是一个国家软实力的重要组成部分,对外进行文化传播是塑造一个国家积极正面形象、提高软实力的有效手段。通过探讨维和警察进行文化传播的重要性、任务、方式以及应注意的问题,旨在对中国维和警察及维和警察培训有所裨益。中国维和警察应发挥自身优势积极进行中华文化传播,塑造中国警察的良好形象,打造中国维护世界和平、构建和谐世界、负责任的大国形象。     

军队院校文化管理模式初探

管理现代化是一所大学成功办学的基本标志。军队院校文化管理理论的提出是时代发展的必然要求。军队院校实施文化管理的核心内容及基本策略就是建设好、使用好自己的特色文化,为此,管理者应注意处理好有为管理与无为管理、柔性管理与刚性管理、部门主管与分工合作、硬件投入与软件提升四个方面的关系。     

孙子兵法中战斗文化因素对当前提升部队战斗力的几点启示

《孙子兵法》作为中华民族传统文化中的“兵学圣典”,不但为中国所重视,更被译成几十种外国文字,广泛流传世界。它所包括的战争原则、系统观念、军人素质等战斗文化因素,对我军当前努力实现党在新形势下的强军目标,增强部队全面建设能力,提升部队战斗力有积极启示。     

中国近代编辑出版工作者的矛盾心理分析

中国近代编辑出版是在旧制度已经衰败、新制度尚未建立的历史背景下发展起来的。西方文明与中国古老文明的冲突、旧思想与新思想的较量、公共利益与个体利益的矛盾必然存在。中国近代编辑出版工作者面对西学与中学、雅文化与俗文化、社会效益与经济效益的选择时,存在着矛盾心理,并为中国文化的近代化作出了贡献。