Call for Papers: Officer Disobedience in Military Organizations across Epochs and Cultures
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16. June 2025
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Call for papers
Officer Disobedience in Military Organizations across Epochs and Cultures
Bonn, 9-11 September 2026
Deadline for submission: 15 August 2025
A transdisciplinary workshop at the University of Bonn to establish individual elite disobedience in military organizations as a discrete phenomenon and the object of a new field of research
In modern thinking, “disobedience” is often defined in ethical terms: as defiance of legitimate authority, which is to be condemned; or conversely as resistance to illegitimate power or illegal orders, which is regarded as morally laudable. In military settings past and present, obedience has been not only praised but conventionally regarded as a crucial military virtue. Scholars who research its absence usually look at collective disciplinary breakdown such as mutiny, or acts of individual non-compliance such as desertion: in the majority of cases, their focus has been on insubordination in the ranks.
This makes the topic of officer (dis)obedience uniquely relevant both to historical research and to our contemporary world, and research into its past and present (across epochs, regions and cultures) an urgent desideratum. We seek to establish individual elite disobedience in military organizations as a discrete phenomenon and the object of a new field of research, and invite historians (all time periods and geographies), sociologists and other scholars to share their research at a transdisciplinary workshop at the University of Bonn on 9-11 September 2026.
Please send your paper or panel proposal by 15 August 2025 to Imogen Herrad (Bonn) iherrad@uni-bonn.de or Patrick Schmidt (Rostock) patrick.schmidt@uni-rostock.de
Each proposal should include:
- the author’s name, affiliation and email address
- an abstract of no more than 300 words
- a short biography of no more than 150 words
The conference language will be English, but papers may be presented in other languages. Papers should not exceed 30 minutes, and will be followed by 20 minutes of discussion.
Contact
Patrick Schmidt: patrick.schmidt@uni-rostock.de
Imogen Herrad: iherrad@uni-bonn.de
The complete Call for Papers as PDF can be found here.
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