ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that the number of objectors is not sufficient to detract from states' ability to wage war, but since very few states have introduced selective conscientious objection. It explores the very notion of military obedience itself. The book notes that the understandable obligation to obey orders in the military is deeply ingrained and this, unsurprisingly, leads to an apparent fit with deontological or duty-based moral reasoning such as that of Kant. It examines the selective conscientious objection starting with the military covenant between the state and it's military. The implicit agreement is that the state is entitled to demand military service and in return. The book refers to real life cases in which any requirement to investigate the moral basis for a short notice deployment would be hopelessly impractical for those hurriedly loading equipment onto military transporters.
