Transcript File - Yip the Great

Just War or the Ethics of War
- Clausewitz said “war is a
continuation of politics by
other means”
- war can also create policy
- war is a brutal and ugly
enterprise
- central to human history
and social change
- war and its threat continue
to be forces in our lives
The Rules of War
War forces us to confront important questions
- Is war always wrong?
- Might there be situations when it can be a justified, or even a smart,
thing to do?
- Will war always be part of human experience, or can we do something
to make it disappear?
- Is war an outcome of unchangeable human nature or, rather, of
changeable social practice?
- Is there a fair and sensible way to wage war, or is it all hopeless,
barbaric slaughter?
- When wars end, how should post-war reconstruction proceed, and who
should be in charge?
- What are our rights, and responsibilities, when our own society makes
the move to go to war?
Realism
-skeptical about applying morality or
justice to war
- morality is wishful thinking
- power and national security motivate
states during wartime
- country should tend to its vital
interests in security, influence over
others, and economic growth
- war is an inevitable part of an chaotic
world system
- Machiavellian perspective – do what
is necessary to stay in power
Niccolò Machiavelli
Some realists claim that there could be
rules – no genocide, harm to noncombatants, etc
Pacifism
- morality can be applied to international
concepts
- objects to the mass killing for any reason,
which is part and parcel of the wartime
experience
- therefore war should never be undertaken
because it is always wrong
“What difference does it make to the
dead, the orphans and the homeless,
whether the mad destruction is wrought
under the name of totalitarianism or the
holy name of liberty or democracy?”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
“For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement
could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al
Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes
necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the
imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”
- Barack Obama
Is Pacifism naïve
or possible?
President Barack Obama
accepting the Nobel
peace Prize, December
10, 2009
Just War Theory
- Just War is most influential school of
thinking in the ethics of war
- early thinkers include Aristotle, Cicero,
Augustine, Hugo Grotius, etc.
- states can have moral justification for
resorting to armed force at times
- many of the rules developed by the Just
War tradition have since been codified
into international laws governing armed
conflict The United Nations Charter and
The Hague and Geneva Conventions
Three parts of Just War Theory
1. jus ad bellum - concerns the justice
of resorting to war in the first
place
2. jus in bello - concerns the justice of
conduct within war once it has begun
3. jus post bellum - concerns the
justice of peace agreements and the
termination phase of war
jus ad bellum
rules before going to war
six requirements to make war just before undertaking
1. JUST CAUSE - state may launch a war
only for the right reason 
presupposes the idea that states have
rights
-
self-defense from external attack
-
defense of others from such attack
-
protection of innocents from brutal,
aggressive regimes
-
punishment for a grievous wrongdoing
which remains uncorrected
jus ad bellum, cont.
rights of states - all legitimate states have
rights to political sovereignty and territorial
integrity
- legitimate state is recognized by its own people
and the international community
- legitimate state avoids violating the rights of
other legitimate states
- legitimate state satisfies the human rights of
their own citizens
- states failing any of these criteria have no right
to govern or to go to war
- allow legitimate states to intervene on behalf
of victims
jus ad bellum, cont.
Does this right allow for pre-emptive war?
Or is this aggression?
The bombing of Baghdad
jus ad bellum, cont.
2. RIGHT INTENTION - state must
intend to fight the war only for
the sake of its just cause
-
ulterior motives, such as a
power or land grab, revenge, or
ethnic hatred are not legitimate
-
if another intention crowds in,
moral corruption sets in
- international law does not
include this rule because it is
difficult to prove intent
jus ad bellum, cont.
3. PROPER AUTHORITY AND
PUBLIC DECLARATION
- decision must be made by the
appropriate authorities and made
public (to both citizens and
enemies)
4. LAST RESORT
- state may resort to war only if it
has exhausted all peaceful
alternatives to resolving the
conflict, in particular diplomatic
negotiation
jus ad bellum, cont.
5. PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS
- state may not go to war if there
will be no measurable change
- block mass violence which is
going to be futile
- International law does not
include this rule because it is
biased against small states
6. PROPORTIONALITY
- must weigh universal good v.
universal bad  benefits must
outweigh the costs
Could the United States have predicted
the emerging power of Iran after the fall
of Saddam Hussein?
jus ad bellum, cont.
Just war theory insists all
six criteria must each be
fulfilled for a declaration of
war to be justified or
legitimate
International laws do not
hold the same standard
President Franklin Roosevelt signing
declaration of war against Germany and
Japan