Moral Injury and Soldiers in Conflict : Political Practices and Public Perceptions

This book advances an interdisciplinary understanding of moral injury by analyzing the stories of military veterans of combat and peace missions. In the past decade, the concept of moral injury has emerged to address the potential moral impact of deployment. This book contributes to an interdisciplinary conceptualization of moral injury while, at the same time, critically evaluating the concept’s premises and implications. It paints an urgent and compassionate picture of the moral impact of soldiers’ deployment experience and the role of political practices and public perceptions in moral injury. It does so by drawing on the experiences of close to a hundred Dutch veterans deployed to Bosnia (Srebrenica) and Afghanistan, and analyzing their stories from the perspectives of psychology, philosophy, theology and social sciences. Ultimately, this book advances the understanding of moral, political and societal dimensions of moral injury and contributes to practical efforts aimed at its prevention. This book will be of much interest to students of ethics and war, cultural anthropology, conflict studies and international relations. 9780367546359_FM 1 9780367546359_P001 15 9780367546359_C001 17 9780367546359_C002 28 9780367546359_P002 49 9780367546359_C003 59 9780367546359_C004 75 9780367546359_C005 96 9780367546359_C006 130 9780367546359_P003 159 9780367546359_C007 161 9780367546359_C008 185