Just war theory

1005 Words3 Pages

The idea of war and how it can be justified, is a rather trick topic to touch on, as there are diverse ethical and sociological implications that have to be weighed on every step. Mainly we could look at the “Just War Theory” and see how that could possibly apply to the real world. To be able to enter a “Just War” nations must meet six criteria in Jus ad Bellum (Going to War). The criteria is as follows: “Just Cause”, “Right Intention”, “Proper Authority and Public Declaration”, “Last Resort”, “Probability of Success”, and lastly “Proportionality”. However the tricky bit of the Just War theory, is that all six of those elements must be met, to go to war in a morally justifiable way. This could make an easy blockade for nations to veto another nation's effort to enter a war, even if morally justifiable. The problem with an internationally mandated “war-committee”, means that the fate of another nation's well-being could very well be in the hands of a nation with an ulterior motive. It could also fall into the grounds of new found illegal activity. Lets give a hypothetical situation, say nation 'X' wants to go to war with nation 'Y' in an act of self-defence, but it doesn't meet some of the requirements for “Just War theory” and is thus blocked by the war-committee. Then as a consequence, nation 'X' is invaded and annexed due to lack of defence. Nation 'X' could have made an effort to prepare for war, but at the cost of possibly being condemned and sanctioned by the war-committee. In an overall view, it's easy to see why the UN or other major international coalitions will not adopt a system based around Just War Theory.

The system the UN currently has offers some perspective on the idea of conducting and participating in war. But...

... middle of paper ...

...t do not have a utilitarian view and rather seek out the realism approach, then you have no regards for rules of war because you are the global power and can get away with it.

In short, the only way the world is going to conduct war, is the way it is now. It will take a larger and more sustainable international effort to make universal guidelines for war. Sure, the Geneva Conventions established protocol for war, but those rules and ideas are only acknowledged by the countries that not just ratified it, but also follow it. Through the Geneva Conventions, is the only way that ethics will exist within the realm of war, otherwise it will constantly find itself cast out in favour of strategy and control. Until then, the grand outcome of war will be bound to realism.

Works Cited

"Iraq Resolution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • The Just War Theory Described in Living Justice by Thomas Massaro

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    The just war theory is described by Thomas Massaro in his book Living Justice as the “principle that warfare might be justified under certain conditions” (108). The complexities involved with international relations makes determining a just war very difficult. Even though historically pacifism hasn’t gained much traction within Catholic circles, it currently is gaining popularity with many mainstream Catholics. With so many differing views on military action, one might ask, “What determines a just war? How can we balance the need for peace with self-defense?” An examination of criteria for a just war and critiques written on this topic might shed light on these two questions.

    Read More

  • Just War Theory and the Battle of Helm’s Deep

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Catholics for Peace and Justice, “the just war tradition begins with a strong presumption against the use of force and then establishes the conditions when this presumption may be overridden for the sake of preserving the kind of peace which protects human dignity and human rights.” The Just War Theory states that there are seven conditions that must be met in order for a declared war to be a true and just war. The first of these values is Just Cause. This means that force can only be utilized to correct an aggression or evil. If the war is being declared out of spite or to seek revenge, the war cannot be defined as being just. Also, there must be a formal declaration of war and warning with spoken terms of what the aims are and what this war will plan to fulfill. The next criterion is Comparative Justice which means the injustice suffered by one party can NOT significantly outweigh the suffering from the other party. For example, if the initial attack o...

    Read More

  • The Just War Theory

    1705 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” As depicted in the quote by Ernest Hemingway war is a difficult situation in which the traditional boundaries of moral ethics are tested. History is filled with unjust wars and for centuries war was not though in terms of morality. Saint Augustine, however, offered a theory detailing when war is morally permissible. The theory offers moral justifications for war as expressed in jus ad bellum (conditions for going to war) and in jus in bello (conditions within warfare).The theory places restrictions on the causes of war as well as the actions permitted throughout. Within early Christianity, the theory was used to validate crusades as morally permissible avoiding conflict with religious views. Based on the qualifications of the Just War Theory few wars have been deemed as morally acceptable, but none have notably met all the requirements. Throughout the paper I will apply Just War Theory in terms of World War II as well as other wars that depict the ideals presented by Saint Augustine.

    Read More

  • Opposition to the Vietnam War

    2708 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many, including the Catholic Church, judge the justifications of a war based on several factors given in the “just war theory,” which is used to evaluate the war based on its causes and means. The first required factor is a just cause, meaning that a nation’s decision to begin a war must be due to “substantial aggression” brought about by the opposition which cannot be resolved through non-violent solutions without excessive cost whereas armed conflict is not hopeless or excessively costly (“Just War Theory”1). In most cases, wars are started for a reason; however, many of these reasons are for the benefit of the governments who start the wars. The just war theory is widely accepted as a way to determine the moral standing of the reasons. This part of the theory is to ensure that the objective of a war is a reasonable and moral one. It prevents the needless bloodshed and loss of human lives over petty disputes while still protecting the rights and lives of the innocent by acknowledging the necessity of war in dire situations.

    Read More

  • Just War Theory Essay

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    The just war theory is described by Thomas Massaro in his book Living Justice as the “principle that warfare might be justified under certain conditions” (108). The complexities involved with international relations makes determining a just war very difficult. Even though historically pacifism hasn’t gained much traction within Catholic circles, it currently is gaining popularity with many mainstream Catholics. With so many differing views on military action, one might ask, “What determines a just war? How can we balance the need for peace with self-defense?” An examination of criteria for a just war and critiques written on this topic might shed light on these two questions.

    Read More

  • Principles Of Just War Theory

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    The principles of Just War theory and different ethical frameworks have been used for many years to justify and reject plans for military interventions. These ideologies are useful tools for the leaders of governments and militaries to discuss and make decisions on the morality of different courses of action. If ISIS launched a series of terrorist attacks on American embassies as hypothesized, the given plan for military intervention would be morally justified due to several principles of Just War theory and various ethical frameworks. These include the ideas of jus ad bellum and jus post bellum from Just War theory and the ethical ideologies of utilitarianism and common good ethics.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    The limits that a ‘just’ war places on the use of aggression between states for both states

    Read More

  • Walzer's Theory Of Just War

    1498 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walzer understands that his ideas are theoretical and probably idealistic in some ways but he also understands that to allow wars to be anything but just is to legalize and encourage aggressive and self serving wars of conquest. Walzer is interested in the development of the idea of what it is for a war to be just. He writes, “Some political theories die and go to heaven; some, I hope, die and go to hell. But some have a long life in this world, a history most often of service to the powers-that-be, but also, sometimes, an oppositionist history. The theory of just war began in the service of the powers” (Walzer 3). The rise of a modern state and the idea of state sovereignty have clouded and wrongly employed the idea of “just war” in using

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Going To Go To War In Australia

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are some other systems that are used to decide who goes to war around the world. For example, the way the U.S decides who goes to war, the Congress has the sole power to declare a war on another nation, although the current President has a very wide discretion to send their country’s combat troops overseas without 100% declaring a war, it may be for either peacekeeping or police actions as well.

    Read More

  • Pacifism & Conscientious Objection

    2869 Words  | 6 Pages

    During the 20th century America has been involved in many conflicts that have led to war or the taking up of arms against other humans and nations. Although the vast majority of Americans have blindly accepted these actions throughout the century, more and more people are seeing war as morally wrong. Reasons for this epiphany are based off of a variety of things and encompass many other aspects related to war and killing examples include: due to moral and ethical principles, objection to war due to strong religious beliefs, the objection to violence due to the same ideals above, objection to the government's use of force, and the objection to the use of weapons of mass destruction.

    Read More

  • Is War A Universal Phenomenon Of War Essay

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    War is a mean to achieve a political goal.it is merely the continuation of policy in a violent form. “War is not merely an act of policy, but a true political instrument....” Moreover, the intensity of war will vary with the nature of political motives. This relationship makes war a rational act rather than a primitive and instinctive action, where war uses coercion to achieve political goals instead of use it only for destruction, and it cannot be separated from each other even after the war has started, when each side is allowed to execute its requisite responsibilities while remaining flexible enough to adapt to emerging

    Read More

  • The Bargaining Model In An Ideal Utopian World

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    In an ideal utopian world, I would like to believe that the views of war conform to the bargaining model; this means that potential gains and losses are weighed against the outcome to decide to go to war through communication and bargaining. War occurs because there is a dispute between two parties in trying to obtain something. This can range from territories, borders, reverence or religious dominance, just to name a few. On many occasions, conflicts brew before wars take place. Therefore, there is always a period of time when bargaining takes place or is able to take place. If the theoretical bargaining model was effectively used, a bargaining range would exist where both parties are better off cumulatively by avoiding war. The prisoner’s dilemma model would work very well in this situation because if two parties were at war, the winning party would obviously have the most to gain, but due to the uncertainty, refraining from war would be the best option.

    Read More

  • United Nations

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    1.     As far as peace keeping methods go, the reputation of the United Nations is very pitiable. This is not only because they have not been doing their job to it’s fullest extent, but also because the member states on the security council haven’t given the UN the power it needs if it is to be a successful force in peace keeping methods.

    Read More

  • Conflict In Lord Of The Rings

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before we dive into conflict in The Lord of the Rings, we first conduct a general survey on experts’ attitudes and opinions on war and conflict. We see that the world’s largest international body, the United Nations (UN), is driven by “activities … for the maintenance of peace”, according to clau...

    Read More

  • League Of Nations Essay

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    The League of Nations was an Intergovernmental Organisation which persisted from 1919 up until 1946 where it was formally replaced with the United Nations towards the end of the Second World War. Many consider the League as one of the International Systems greatest failures due to it being widely regarded as an ‘ineffective instrument to tackle aggressors’ (Catterall, 1999, p. 52) and its inherent failure to prevent international conflict. However,

    Read More

More about Just war theory

Open Document