Book Review: On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military, Citizenry and Community

On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military, Citizenry and Community

Written by: Pauline Shanks Kaurin

Naval Institute Press, 2020,

ISBN 9781682474914, 274pp.

Reviewed by: Chaplain Nikki Coleman, PhD

One of the central values of the military is that soldiers, sailors, airmen and women will obey all legal orders. Without obedience, it is argued, there will be chaos on the battlefield, and the good order and discipline of the military will be eroded to the point where it can no longer function. The image of the solider disobeying orders, laying down their weapons and refusing to fight is a strong one that I am sure keeps many a sergeant major awake at night. It is surprising then, that this central value of obedience, which undergirds so much of the military ethos, is not mentioned in the values statements of most of the world’s leading militaries. Similarly, up until now, there has been very little discussion of the nature of obedience and its impact on military members themselves.

Pauline Shanks Kaurin’s new book On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military, Citizenry and Community, starts a discussion that is long overdue. The first half of the book is an in-depth and nuanced philosophical treatment of obedience in the context of the military and the broader civilian political community and the second half of the book looks at more practical and concrete implications of obedience.

While those of us who are short on time might be tempted to skip the first half of the book and go straight to the practical applications, that would be robbing us of some vital discussions around the issue of obedience, which should be something that is vital to the understanding of all military members. All members of the military, from the Private all the way up to the Chief of the Defence Force must obey orders, either of their commanding officer or NCO, or in the case of the Chief of the Defence Force those orders given by the Prime Minister and Governor General.

One of the great strengths of Shanks Kaurin’s work is that she has defined obedience, which raises the question for me, that given how central to military culture obedience is, how is it in 2020 that we have not moved beyond a dictionary definition of obedience? The definition offered by Shanks Kaurin is that obedience is ‘the intentional and voluntary carrying out of orders or commands, given by a commander or other authority figure who represents legitimate political authority in action’, but also recognises that it is a starting point for the discussion on obedience, as a wider debate on these issues is long overdue.

Shanks Kaurin also poses many questions for us to consider –

• Where exactly is the line between obedience and disobedience? Is there a moral obligation (as opposed to legal obligation) to obey or disobey an order?
• Is the ‘slow roll’ in carrying out an order by subordinates a type of disobedience, a delayed or renegotiated obedience or something else entirely?
• How should we think about obedience in contemporary political communities?

Just as we shouldn’t have favourite children, perhaps we shouldn’t have a favourite chapter of a book, but I have to say, that chapters seven and eight of this book got me very excited about this topic and wanting to open up the discussion of this topic further. It is in this section that Shanks Kaurin moves into the practical and concrete examination of obedience and asks us to consider how we each think and relate to obedience as a virtue. In particular, there is an emphasis on judgement, discretion and obedience as a kind of negotiation, underpinning the relational aspect of obedience and loyalty in the military profession.

Writing about obedience in military culture from a philosophical perspective could very easily veer into the ‘impressive on my bookshelf but not actually read’ category of book; however Shanks Kaurin’s accessible writing style, combined with her liberal use of case studies throughout the book, makes this not only a good reference for discussion on obedience, but makes it a vital book for professional military education and professional development. This book had me itching to highlight and underline passages, as well as put exclamation marks and notes in the margins. As someone who is also a researcher working on obedience (my own book is coming out with Routledge in 2021), I was delighted to find that I was learning new things about the topic of obedience, especially in regards to connections that Shanks Kaurin has made that I had not previously seen.