Transformation of Military Ethics During the Zhou Dynasty in Ancient China

ABSTRACT

The transformation of the governance model from a rule of virtue to political realism in China has been a topic of great interest to scholars. In this study, I examine military culture during the Zhou Dynasty and investigate the changes in ethics based on factors such as cultural values, social customs, and political structure to understand the process by which moral values have changed as the governance model transformed from rule of virtue to political realism. I found that military ethics have changed from governance through the use of rituals during the Western Zhou Dynasty to what was called “deception makes an army” during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.     

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.     

顾及地磁影响的GNSS电离层层析不等像素间距算法

突破传统全球导航卫星系统(Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS)层析反演研究忽略地球磁场对电离层变化活动的影响,同时顾及不同电离层高度电子密度变化较大的影响,提出在地磁坐标系下建立电离层高度方向上不等像素间距的GNSS层析反演方法。在此基础上,通过建立新的电离层层析迭代松弛因子,提高GNSS电离层电子密度层析反演结果精度。利用IRI—2007电离层模型、GNSS实测数据与电离层测高仪数据,从模拟验证和实测数据对比两方面,反演统计了不同层析算法估算的峰值电离层电子密度误差、电子密度剖面结果平均绝对百分比误差及均方根误差,验证了顾及地磁影响的GNSS电离层层析不等像素间距算法的有效性。     

从《中导条约》的失效看未来国际军控走向

《美苏消除两国中程导弹和中短程导弹条约》的失效重创了本就脆弱的国际军控体系,对美俄战略稳定和全球军事安全带来消极影响,国际军控合作和全球军事安全迫切需要重构新的军控体系。本文立足当前国际军控现状,在分析美俄“退约”背后各方战略考量及国际军控面临的挑战,如“美国优先”理念下的霸权主义和单边主义、国际军控体系自身的脆弱性和局限性和新军事革命给全球安全增添新的变量的基础上,提出了“构建人类命运共同体”理念凝聚全球安全共识、以大国责任和义务为基础构建多层次军控体系和以多边军控体系循序推进国际军控进程等措施和建议,以期为推动国际军控合作,建立更为公平、合理、有效的国际军控体系做出贡献。     

Collective security and strategic instability in the digital domain

Cyberspace experiences worrying trends that could have a negative impact on the international strategic landscape. The lack or erosion of norms and risky practices and behaviors could lead to greater uncertainty and thus greater instability. Set against a context of renewed competition between great powers, these developments are also tied to the strategic structure of cyberspace. This forum is devoted to discussing factors leading to stability or and instability.     

The politics of international chemical weapon justice: The case of Syria, 2011–2017

There has been near-universal condemnation of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict. The international community has nevertheless struggled to make progress on holding the perpetrators to account. This article reviews developments at the international level in terms of Syrian chemical weapon justice between 2011 and 2017. It argues that there have been substantive disagreements between states on the rationale and means of justice in the Syrian case. It also argues that international initiatives have been tightly intertwined with developments in chemical disarmament and conflict resolution processes as well as the broader war. The article describes progress and challenges to chemical weapon justice in a number of distinct formal international mechanisms during the period studied. The analysis concludes by contextualizing international responses—including the U.S. tomahawk strikes against a Syrian airbase—to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attacks of April 2017.     

What is the global landpower network and what value might it provide?

US national security guidance, as well as the US Army’s operational experiences since 2001, emphasizes the importance of working closely with partner countries to achieve US strategic objectives. The US Army has introduced the global landpower network (GLN) concept as a means to integrate, sustain and advance the Army’s considerable ongoing efforts to meet US national security guidance. This study develops the GLN concept further, and addresses three questions. What benefits can the GLN provide the Army? What are the essential components of the GLN? What options exist for implementing the GLN concept? By developing the GLN concept, the Army has the opportunity to transition the GLN from an often ad hoc and reactive set of relationships to one that the Army more self-consciously prioritizes and leverages as a resource to meet US strategic objectives.     

论高校工会在青年教师师德师风建设中的作用

高校青年教师是高校的生力军,如何加强高校青年教师的师德师风建设,充分调动其积极性和创造性,是高校工会师德师风建设的重点。本文就当前青年教师的特点和高校工会面临的现状,对如何加强高校青年教师师德师风建设提出了具体措施。     

Remotely Piloted Aircraft,Risk, and Killing as Sacrifice: The Cost of Remote Warfare

In this paper I argue that a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilot’s act of killing remotely, when it is done in the defense of another person, can be viewed as an act of sacrifice. This argument concludes from two premises. First, the RPA pilot faces psychological risk to self by carrying out such an action; second, the RPA pilot is motivated to some significant degree by something other than self-interest. Moreover, I challenge both the view that RPA represent merely an incremental development in technology yielding an incremental expansion of the distance between the war-fighter and the target and the view that RPA is revolutionary in some fundamental sense. I instead argue that, based upon the natural geometric boundary imposed by the earth’s shape, RPA have maximized the physical distance between the war-fighter and the target and, over time, this fact will change, not only the psychological effects on the RPA pilot, but also the way we view killing and distance in general. When taken together, these two broad claims, that other-defense can justify killing in war and that there is a psychological cost paid by remote killers, yield a conception of remote killing as an act of sacrifice that will inform the broader conversation about ethics, risk, killing, and RPA.     

Situations and Dispositions: How to Rescue the Military Virtues from Social Psychology

In recent years, it has been argued more than once that situations determine our conduct to a much greater extent than our character does. This argument rests on the findings of social psychologists such as Stanley Milgram, who have popularized the idea that we can all be brought to harm innocent others. An increasing number of philosophers and ethicists make use of such findings, and some of them have argued that this so-called situationist challenge fatally undermines virtue ethics. As virtue ethics is currently the most popular underpinning for ethics education in the military, it is important to know to what extent the claim situationists make is correct. Fortunately, a closer look indicates that an interactionist perspective, with our character and the situation interplaying, is more accurate than the situationist perspective.