Civilian Control of the Military with regard to Value-Based Issues in a World of Hybrid Conflicts

Kobi Michael, Carmit Padan

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Hybrid conflicts bring with them many varied situations in which the need to neutralize threats and ensure security on the one hand clashes with the need for restraint and moderation in the use of military force to achieve these goals on the other hand. In the many instances in which the IDF has had to operate under such tension and maintain its values in force application, it has often found itself at the center of social and political division, and without the backing of the political echelon. The question of civilian control of military force to achieve political goals becomes even sharper in the world of hybrid conflicts, highlighting the need to consider the way in which values influence the use of military force and to study the political echelon's involvement in defining the army’s values. In the military context, values serve as guiding principles for the use of force and open-fire orders, and have the capacity to influence the achievement of political goals and the area of political maneuvering. The article argues that in the world of hybrid conflicts, the political echelon – by means of mechanisms of civilian control – must have a say and be involved in value-related issues that influence how military force is used.