[PHILOS-L] CfP: Normative Perspectives on the Armed Forces and Civil–Military Relations

[Sven Altenburger]

Call for Papers

Normative Perspectives on the Armed Forces and Civil–Military Relations

Workshop at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
12 – 13 November 2026
Organisers: Tom Simpson and Sven Altenburger

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, alongside ongoing processes of democratic backsliding, has renewed attention to the political role of military institutions and the relationship between armed forces and democratic societies. Political scientists have produced rich empirical and institutional accounts of civil–military relations, from Huntington and Janowitz to Feaver’s principal–agent framework, but the normative questions underlying those accounts have received little sustained philosophical attention. While classical republican thought devoted considerable attention to the armed forces and civil–military relations, contemporary political philosophy and theory has engaged these issues only sporadically. Yet military institutions raise a wide range of important normative questions.

This workshop aims to advance normative theorising on military institutions and civil–military relations. We invite papers that address any element of this topic, including the following issues:

• just military budgetary allocation given welfare and ecological opportunity costs;
• the internal organisation of the military and the treatment of soldiers;
• the normative grounding and political implications of different recruitment regimes, from conscription to private contractors;
• the obligations of a non-partisan military when civilian leaders engage in democratic backsliding;
• the appropriate grounds and scope of military institutional autonomy;
• whether martial culture can or should be diffused through society under conditions of heightened threat;
• alternatives to a military establishment for national defence, such as civilian-based defence, popular militias, and international security arrangements;
• the criteria by which the legitimacy of military institutions should be evaluated.

Abstracts of 300–400 words should be sent, alongside a short CV, to sven.alt...@bsg.ox.ac.uk by 15 August 2026. The workshop will be based on pre-circulated papers. Accepted participants will be asked to submit a paper of 7,000–10,000 words by 15 October 2026. Selected contributions may be included in an intended edited volume arising from the workshop.

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Dr Sven Altenburger

Postdoctoral Researcher

Blavatnik School of Government

University of Oxford

sven.alt...@bsg.ox.ac.uk

svenaltenburger.com

Recent Publications

2026. ‘Die politische Theorie der (deutschen) Dienstpflicht: Begründungen, Einwände und institutionelles Design.’ German Political Science Quarterly. Online First.

2025. ‘Reconsidering Military and Civil Conscription.’ The Journal of Politics 87 (2): 464–78.

2025. ‘The Case for Tax Publicity.’ European Journal of Political Theory. Online First.

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