In Search of the Virtuous Propagandist: The Ethics of Selling War

Herbert, Roger

doi:10.1080/15027570.2021.1983116

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…The tactics of a virtuous propagandist, by contrast, require no excuse. ' 113 Additionally, says Stanley Cunningham, lies are perceived as ethically problematic because they reduce the virtue of truth to a simple instrument which can be used for other ends. 114 Rather than an end, truth is perceived in an instrumental fashion, seen as a means to achieve other goals.…”

Section: Assessment Criterion 2: Deliberate Falsehoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are propagandists combatants? Analysing the ethical status of propagandists in warfare

Robin

2024

Rev. Int. Stud.

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Belligerents increasingly rely on media manipulation, propaganda, and communication to attain strategic advantages in conflict. Given the civilian propagandists’ clear role in creating tactical or strategic advantages for one side in the conflict, should these propagandists be considered combatants, and can they therefore be legitimately targeted because of their activities? This article overcomes traditional binary frameworks of distinction to argue that propagandists are indirectly participating civilians, i.e. participants who cannot be intentionally or directly killed in conflict. Because of their activities, propagandists, it argues, are liable to less-than-lethal harm, of which it identifies three types (destruction of property, privation of liberty, isolation). The article then proposes a necessary criterion – necessity – to decide if less-than-lethal harm is warranted against propagandists. It then creates four new criteria – denial of agency, falsehood, influence, gratification – to serve as assessment criteria able to decide what degree of harm a propagandist may maximally face. In making this argument, the article contributes to just war literature by proposing a novel way to evaluate the ethical status of a highly diverse, yet undoubtedly influential, category of war participants: those who undertake the ‘media battle’, outside of the military.

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Section: Assessment Criterion 2: Deliberate Falsehoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are propagandists combatants? Analysing the ethical status of propagandists in warfare

Robin

2024

Rev. Int. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

In Search of the Virtuous Propagandist: The Ethics of Selling War

Cited by 1 publication

References 16 publications

Are propagandists combatants? Analysing the ethical status of propagandists in warfare

Are propagandists combatants? Analysing the ethical status of propagandists in warfare

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