The moral orientations of Finnish peacekeepers

Abstract

This article examines the moral orientation of Finnish peacekeepers in the field of civil and military cooperation. This aim is studied through identifying different voices in peacekeepers’ narratives. Following previously published research on the ethics of justice, the ethics of care and the ethics of empowerment related to moral orientation, peacekeepers’ ethical and religious voices are identified. Religious beliefs are introduced as important values that contribute to moral orientation. The method is qualitative and the approach is narrative. The data include in‐depth interviews of six key interviewees, with whom I served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia in 2000 and 2001. The data analysis concentrates on identifying the voices of moral orientation through narratives that create a logical narrative synthesis. The study reveals three types of moral orientations and three types of empowerment: (1) justice orientation and challenge‐empowerment; (2) care orientation and community‐empowerment; (3) voices of self‐empowerment connected with ethical and religious contemplation. Peacekeeping intensifies interconnections with religion and ethics and self‐empowerment.