Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This chapter develops an outline for the framework of ethical total defense in liberal democracies. It starts by exploring the tensions between the principles of just war theory, which insist on clear separation of combatants and non-combatants, and those of total defense systems, which require participation of all citizens of the state in its protection. The friction is that just war theory, and laws of armed conflict emanating from it, do not look kindly at civilians blurring the legal lines between combatants and non-combatants, while total defense principles and initiatives stemming from it require such action. Therefore, this chapter argues that compelling principles must justify such civilian engagement. This chapter thus draws on debates about political obligation, associative duties, and duties of self- and other-defense to ground such justifications. Combining Klosko’s multiple principle theory of political obligation, Lazar’s account of associative duties, and arguments for duties to resist oppression, it constructs the moral bases on which citizens may be required to contribute to total defense. It further suggests that the relationship between state and the citizen cannot be one-sided and the state also has obligations to fulfill on its part, involving the citizens in defense as moral agents and avoiding the risks of moral exploitation, unfair burden-sharing, and paternalistic constructions of vulnerability. The analysis culminates in a partnership model of total defense grounded in four principles: mutual respect, reciprocal accountability, shared agency, and democratic oversight. Properly implemented, these principles allow total defense to function not only as an empirical security strategy but as a ‘moral shield’ that protects individual dignity and democratic legitimacy while enhancing societal resilience against contemporary threats.
Source: Springer eBooks
Author: Asta Maskaliūnaitė
Institution: Baltic Defence College
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7220732256