Duty and Disobedience: The Conflict of Conscience and Compliance in the Trump Era

Abstract

In the first weeks of President Trump’s administration, the Acting Attorney General was fired for ordering the Justice Department not to enforce a controversial Executive Order on immigration. Police departments and corporate boardrooms prepare for less oversight and deregulation, opening the door to more aggressive police tactics and profit seeking, respectively. Military leaders wonder whether they will be ordered to torture suspected terrorists. In each of these situations, individuals must decide whether they will follow their conscience and disobey superiors or comply with organizational and state policies.

This article examines the conflict between conscience and compliance and draws upon lessons from military conscientious objectors to describe the behavioral pulls that influence decisions to disobey. The law of military conscientious objection is an impactful microcosm of legal and ethical noncompliance. As such, it is an effective illustration of the relationship between individual behavior and organizations/states. Applying compliance theory, the branch of social- psychological studies seeking to answer why individuals, organizations, or states obey the law, this article offers prescriptive recommendations aimed to enhance organizational efficiency, individual commitment, and balance the legal and moral conflicts of potential objectors.

Keywords: compliance theory, national security law, international law, international humanitarian law, law of armed conflict, jus in bello, jus ad bellum, just war, military justice, Watada, Captain Smith, Donald Trump, Ethics

JEL Classification: K33, K42, K10, K39, K49, N40