Military Leadership as a Guarantor of Discipline, Cohesion, and Institutional Integrity in the Peruvian Army

Abstract

This article aims to analyze military leadership as an essential element for preserving discipline, strengthening cohesion, and ensuring the institutional integrity of the Peruvian Army (EP). To this end, a qualitative methodology with a hermeneutic and documentary approach was employed, based on the analysis of doctrinal, historical, and bibliographic sources related to the military profession, leadership, and the exercise of command. The study demonstrates that the effectiveness of a military organization depends not exclusively on its structure, material resources, or technological capabilities, but fundamentally on the legitimacy of leadership to transform formal authority into conscious commitment, strengthen discipline, consolidate esprit de corps, and preserve the institution’s moral power. It also shows that the challenges inherent in the contemporary strategic environment increase the need for commanders with moral authority, adaptability, and a strong ethical foundation. As its main contribution, the study proposes understanding military leadership not only as a competence inherent to the exercise of command, but also as an ongoing process of developing personnel, strengthening moral power, and building institutional capacity, thereby ensuring doctrinal continuity and the fundamental values of the EP.