just war essay

Just War 101 — E1: A Primer on Fighting Right Fights, Rightly

By Marc LiVecche on December 9, 2022

Editor's Note

While from our launch Providence scholars have reflected extensively on just war, we have not produced a basic, easily accessible set of introductory pieces that, taken together, provide a tidy summary of when it’s right to fight, how to rightly fight that fight that’s right to fight, and of the underlying normative commitments that ground just war. Over the next several weeks, I’ll begin to remedy this. For the next half-year or so, I’m involved in several writing and video projects that in different ways provide conceptual overviews of the just war moral framework aimed at military education and other audiences. Drawing on this work, I’ll produce a series of essays here at providencemag.com. “Just War 101” will be a collection of short explainer texts aimed at individual edification, classroom use, and any other means of providing clarity on this particular Christian framework for thinking about ethics in a broken world.

E1: A Core to (Just) War: Diverse Theories in a Common Tradition

All great civilizations—and probably every minor one—has pondered, if not formalized, an ethics of war, including consideration of when it is right to fight and how one ought to fight once the fight has been engaged. The just war tradition comprises a multimillennial long collection of reflection on the ethics of war that has emerged out of the West’s Greco-Roman and Hebraic moral inheritance. This post offers a short historical overview of the tradition’s development.

Development is the appropriate word, the just war tradition didn’t simply spring forth ex nihilo . Certainly, we can point to just war ideas in early Jewish thought, ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Cicero, and, of course, in the Christian scriptures and early theologians like Augustine (354-430)—whose emphasis Christian moral and political responsibility as manifestations of Christian love will reside at the core of this developing tradition. But the forging of a systematic, consolidated conception of just war as we would recognize it today wouldn’t begin to happen until around the middle of the 12 th century.

This occurred with Gratian’s (1101-1159) Decretum and two generations of his successors, the Decretists and the Decretalists. Together they incorporated Christian thought; practical experiences drawn from governing and warfare; and a retrieval and ressourcement of Roman law, which included natural law and ius gentium, or the law applicable not only to Roman citizens but held in common by all peoples throughout the empire. In the latter bit of the 13 th Century, all of this work would be summarized and pulled into a theological framework by Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1125-1274). This is a watershed moment in the development of just war as a tradition for Thomas will become arguably the key figure for engaging just war in its specifically Christian form. I’ll just assert this for now and will leave it to a future essay to make the case.

For now, let me just point to one significant point. In his reflection on the ethics of war, Thomas followed Augustine’s emphasis on love by placing his own discussion of just war in the Summa Theologica in the midst of his treatment of caritas or charity. Not incidentally, Thomas might also have taken his cue from the Apostle Paul, who, in his Epistle to the Romans (12:9), implores the Christian to “love without hypocrisy,” and, in the immediate verses following, explains what this means. Later (13:10), he proclaims that “Love does no wrong to the neighbor.” In between these points he discusses human government and affirms that God has ordained government to use “the sword” to curb wrong-doing. In both this Pauline and Thomistic bookending, then, deliberation on the use of force occurs in the midst of a discussion of love. Ever since, love will be at core of Christian reflection on the use of force. For this reason, connections between love and war will feature both directly and indirectly throughout this series.

Following Thomas in the later Middle Ages, particularly during the Hundred Years War, the theological and canonical dimensions of just war would be further elaborated by the incorporation of ideas, customs, and practices from the Medieval conception of chivalry. I’ve written and spoken on C.S. Lewis and chivalry as it illuminates just war tradition. You can find both an essay and audio-file here .

Further on, Martin Luther (1483-1546) departed from certain traditional tenets of the just war tradition, even as he improved the tradition in other ways. Ever the bombastic iconoclast, Luther tended “to dispense with traditional subtleties and distinctions” thereby giving an account of war with considerabl y e less nuance than earlier writers. Most pointedly, Luther’s treatment of right intention lacks any reference to love for the enemy and one finds few restrictions in his discussion of the ethics of how one actually fights once conflict is engaged. Luther didn’t dispense entirely with the idea that charity was a necessary motivation for fighting, but the focus of this love was on the innocent neighbors who needed rescue and to live in a world governed in an orderly way. How this is a work of love is seen in Luther’s stark image of a world without strong ruling authorities. He asks us to imagine herding together wolves, lions, eagles, and sheep into a single pen, letting them mix freely and bidding them to feed and live peaceably. In such a scenario, good will and the gospel alone would be insufficient. Without enforced security, the strong would simply prey upon the weak. For these reasons, Christians should seek out governing authority if they have the necessary skills whether as court official, judge, or even hangman.

John Calvin (1509-1564) marked a substantive return to earlier emphases, illustrated by his grounding of the coercive powers of the state in natural law, thereby linking civil and moral law in the pursuit of justice. Doing so gestures brings us again to Augustine and his distinction between internal dispositions and external acts, resulting in our ability to both love and kill the enemy as we distinguish between the sinner and the sin. Unlike, arguably, Luther, Augustine did see just war as a matter the requirements of justice overruling the requirements of love and saw no necessary contradiction between a Christian engaging in warfare and loving the enemy. Like a parent who disciplines an errant and recalcitrant child with a “benevolent harshness”, one can punish an enemy while having the enemy’s good in mind.

The primarily Christian theological content of just war tradition had begun to wane by the 17 th century. While early-modern just war thinkers like the Spanish neo-scholastics Francisco de Vitoria (1492-1546) and Francisco Suárez (1548-1617) and the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) were theologians who used Christian scripture, texts, and arguments, they each also attempted to present just war principles on the more universal ground of natural law. In doing so, they developed arguments both more comprehensive as well as more widely applicable beyond the Christian West. Grotius, in particular, also contributed significantly to the deeper development of criteria regarding the moral conduct of war.

In the 1960s, however, Paul Ramsey (1913-88) pioneered a revival of specifically Christian, Augustinian just war thinking, which has been kept alive since in the work of thinkers such as Oliver O’Donovan (1945- ), Nigel Biggar (1955- ), me, and many of the writers associated with Providence .

This brief overview runs the risk of oversimplification. Among much else, we ought to be careful to observe that it can sometimes be problematic to speak of, simply, the just war tradition. Here the definite article is too definitive and risks eliding the diverse accounts of just war that have emerged over the more than 1,500 years of scholarship, most especially in the modern era. We need to be careful to distinguish varying points of emphasis, to acknowledge disagreement, and to take care to discern when the same terms are being used in different ways. This latter point reminds us that when the variance is significant enough, we need to be able to say that something has ceased to be a part of just war thinking and has, rather, become something else. As Jim Johnson has suggested ,

There have been many particular just war theories, but insofar as they hang together with sufficient commonalty, they all belong to just war tradition. At the same time, though, a tradition needs sufficient commonalty, a coherence of basic conceptions and agreements as to meaning and purpose. In this, a moral tradition like that of just war is like language: speakers may differ broadly as to vocabulary, pronunciation, syntax, intonation, and all the other features that make it possible to speak, say, of British English and American English while recognizing both as English. Yet at some point a local version of a language may become so different, so unintelligible to persons from different localities that it has to be recognized as a different language, as in the evolution of distinct Romance languages from a common Latin source. I

This is why I’ll be at pains to speak of just war tradition, rather than just war theory. The tradition is made up of various theories held together by sufficient “family resemblance” as to be intelligibly related. The theory from which I position myself—and this series—within the wider just war tradition will be that of Christian realism. The overview I have presented above, roughly, follows the contours of the Christian realist mode of just war thinking. Longtime readers of Providence might think this focus on Christian realism means, therefore, that what I will expound will be Niebuhrian. This is not quite right. As careful longtime readers of Providence know, I have my beefs with Niebuhr’s brand of realism. I’ll expand on this, too, in a future essay. Hint: I don’t think it’s theologically realistic. But I will show why that matters.

Next time, I will explore just war’s basic moral logic.

Further Historical Reading:

Anything by James Turner Johnson . For a brief, accessible essay, you can’t do better than this: Just War As It Was and Is.

See also my chapter on “Just War” in Protestant Social Teaching

Marc LiVecche is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence . He is also a non-resident research fellow at the US Naval War College, in the College of Leadership and Ethics.

Marc completed doctoral studies, earning distinction, at the University of Chicago, where he worked under the supervision of the political theorist and public intellectual Jean Bethke Elshtain, until her death in August, 2013. His first book, The Good Kill: Just War & Moral Injury , was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. Another project, Responsibility and Restraint: James Turner Johnson and the Just War Tradition , co-edited with Eric Patterson, was published by Stone Tower Press in the fall of 2020. Currently, he is finalizing Moral Horror: A Just War Defense of Hiroshima . Before all this academic stuff, Marc spent twelve years doing a variety of things in Central Europe—ranging from helping build sport and recreational leagues in post-communist communities, to working at a Christian study and research center, to leading seminars on history and ethics onsite at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp in Poland. This latter experience allowed him to continue his undergraduate study of the Shoah; a process which rendered him entirely ill-suited for pacifism.

Marc lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife and children–and a marmota monax whistlepigging under the shed. He can be followed, or stalked, on twitter @mlivecche. Additional publications can be found at his Amazon author page .

Providence is the only publication devoted to Christian Realism in American foreign policy and is entirely funded by donor contributions. There are no advertisements, sponsorships, or paid posts to support the work of Providence , just readers who generously partner with Providence to keep our magazine running. If you would care to make a donation it would be highly appreciated to help Providence in advancing the Christian realist perspective in 2024. Thank you!

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1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology

Philosophy, One Thousand Words at a Time

Just War Theory

Author: Ryan Jenkins Category: Social and Political Philosophy Word Count: 1000

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War is a profoundly destructive institution, yet most of us still believe there are good wars. Authors as far back as Cicero, and in various cultural traditions, [1]  have sought to answer this question: When is a war  just ?

The  just war tradition  (or just war theory ) is one subset of military ethics. [2] Recently, interest in just war theory was ignited by Michael Walzer’s 1977  Just and Unjust Wars , published in the wake of the Vietnam War. More recently, profound challenges to “traditional” just war theory—under the banner of “revisionism”—have shaken the foundations of the ethics of war. [3]

This article will explore the criteria of traditional just war theory before briefly discussing the revisionist school’s critiques.

1. Jus ad Bellum: Justice in the Resort to War

Traditional just war theory concerns itself with two questions: (1) when is it just to   go to war  and (2) how may a war be  justly fought ? [4]  (These two areas usually go by their Latin names:  jus ad bellum  and  jus in bello , respectively.) This way, we can say that a war was just to declare but fought unjustly, or perhaps vice-versa. [5]

When is it just to resort to war? (Notice this  moral  question is separate from when war is prudent or popular.) Traditionalists hold that a state must satisfy several criteria:  just cause ,  right intention ,  last resort ,  proportionality ,  probability of success , and  proper authority .

Theorists usually think the only just cause for declaring war is self-defense: that is, as a response to an actual aggression. Pre-emptive war—declaring war on a state because it is believed they will be a threat—is clearly a Pandora’s box. Instead, we must meet a high evidential burden in order to justify war, and a  merely suspected  attack is not enough.

In order for a declaration of war to be just, the state must have the right intention in persecuting a war. It is unjust to go to war ostensibly in self-defense if one’s real motive is to seize the adversary’s copious natural resources.

Because war is a grave evil, it is just only when all other peaceful avenues to resolving the conflict have been exhausted: [6] war must be a last resort. Moreover, there must be a high probability that waging a war will actually achieve its goal: it would be wrong to wreak massive destruction if victory were a long shot.

For a declaration of war to be just, the good to be sought must be proportionate to the expected amount of damage that will be wrought. It would be unjust, for example, to wage a hugely destructive war over the right to govern a very small territory.

Finally, only a proper authority can declare. It is for this reason, for example, that Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, suggested that the US’s 2003 invasion of Iraq was illegal. [7] Under international law, a war must be authorized by the United Nations in order to be legal, and all other threats or uses of force are illegal. [8]

2. Jus in Bello: Justice During Warfare

Jus in bello  concerns who may be targeted in warfare and when. Theorists generally agree that violence in wartime must (1) be necessary for securing a strategic goal, (2) be directed against only those who are liable to be attacked (i.e., the target is  not innocent ), and (3) not cause disproportionate harm and suffering.

These restrictions are clearly meant to minimize the harms that war inflicts, and to make sure that they are inflicted only for good reasons and only against those who have done something to be liable to attack, like posing a threat to innocent people. Many have held that innocent non-combatants cannot be permissibly attacked no matter the potential strategic gains. [9]

Finally, any weapons  mala in se , or bad in themselves, are prohibited. Weapons in this category: (1) are indiscriminate by nature, either because they produce massive destruction or have other unpredictable effects and (2) inflict harms in ways that are especially gruesome, even for war. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons plausibly satisfy both of these criteria. Thus, “weapons of mass destruction” are natural candidates for being considered  intrinsically  evil.

3. Emerging Issues in Just War Theory

A collection of objections found in the “revisionist” work of McMahan, Rodin, and others is currently roiling the just war community. Central to this conflict with traditional just war theory is the  moral equality of combatants .

Traditionalists, along with international law, roughly hold that all soldiers on either side of a war are legitimate targets and are entitled to equal moral protections.

Revisionists respond that soldiers fighting for an unjust cause are culpable for posing an unjust threat, and therefore enjoy no moral protections. To deny this would be like insisting that a criminal and the policeman giving chase are equally legitimate targets of violence.

Whether revisionists are ultimately correct, many of their arguments have a cogency that makes one question how the traditional view has gone unquestioned for so long.

Extending this “law enforcement” analogy to warfare, others are questioning soldiers’  de facto  license to inflict deadly violence on one another. In law enforcement, we typically think that police are required to warn offenders or give them an opportunity to surrender before targeting them with force.

Revisionists argue that our moral duties to one another can’t be changed significantly just by having our leaders declare a state of war. Thus, we need more reason than we usually think to simply kill enemy soldiers. [10]

One possible result of the revisionists’ arguments is that the position of  contingent pacifism  seems to be rising in popularity. A contingent pacifist believes war  can  be justified, but perhaps (or probably) never  actually is. As revisionists offer arguments for a host of new moral restraints on warfare, some philosophers have begun to appreciate how very unlikely it is that any war will meet this high burden. [11]

[1] This includes the Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu traditions. See Sorabji and Rodin (2006) for an excellent anthology across these various traditions.

[2] Military ethics, a broader subfield, also includes questions about the virtues of the ideal warrior, or the duties of a commander to a subordinate, for example.

[3] See McMahan (2009) and Rodin (2005)

[4] This includes the Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu traditions. See Sorabji and Rodin (2006) for an excellent anthology across these various traditions.

[5] This is controversial. McMahan (2005) has argued persuasively that a war that lacks a just cause cannot be fought justly.

[6] Some worry that last resort is incoherent in the same way that a largest number is incoherent: there could always be another avenue for resolving a conflict.

[7] See Ewen MacAskill and Julian Borger, “Iraq War Was Illegal and Breached UN Charter, Says Annan.”  The Guardian . September 15, 2004. Internet. Accessed July 16, 2014.  

[8] See UN Charter, Article 2(4).

[9] See Nagel (1972) and Anscombe (1981).

[10] See Statman (2005) and Gross (2006). This is especially relevant to moral debates over unmanned aerial vehicles, which deny enemy soldiers any opportunity to surrender, and therefore might be seen as unjust or excessive.

[11] See, for example, May (2012) and McMahan (2010).

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About the Author

Ryan Jenkins is an associate professor of philosophy and a senior fellow at the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He studies the ethics of emerging technologies, especially automation, cyber war, autonomous weapons, and driverless cars. His work has appeared in journals such as Ethical Theory and Moral Practice , and the Journal of Military Ethics , as well as public fora including Slate and Forbes . http://calpoly.academia.edu/RyanJenkins

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Just War Theory: Past, Present, and Future

• First Online: 03 November 2023

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• Cian O’Driscoll   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9995-7923 7  

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When if ever is the resort to war justified? What limits should be placed upon its conduct? And how should we hold the perpetrators of war crimes accountable for their wrongdoing? The just war tradition provides a set of answers to these questions. This chapter provides a critical overview of that tradition. It offers not just a detailed history of the tradition’s development from classical times to the present day, but also an analysis of how the tradition is in danger of becoming a captive of its own past. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the challenges facing the just war tradition today, paying specific attention to the need to ground just war reasoning so that it speaks to the muddy realities of the contemporary battlefield.

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O’Driscoll, C. (2023). Just War Theory: Past, Present, and Future. In: Williams, H., Boucher, D., Sutch, P., Reidy, D., Koutsoukis, A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Political Theory. International Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36111-1_18

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The Ethics of War: Essays

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Some of the most basic assumptions of Just War theory have been dismantled in a barrage of criticism and analysis in the first dozen years of the twenty-first century. The Ethics of War continues and pushes past this trend. This anthology is an authoritative treatment of the ethics and law of war by eminent scholars who first challenged the orthodoxy of Just War theory, as well as by “second-wave” revisionists. The twelve original essays span both foundational and topical issues in the ethics of war, including an investigation of whether there is a “greater-good” obligation that parallels the canonical lesser evil justification in war, the conditions under which citizens can wage war against their own government, whether there is a limit to the number of combatants on the unjust side who can be permissibly killed, whether the justice of the cause for which combatants fight affects the moral permissibility of fighting, whether duress ever justifies killing in war, the role that collective liability plays in the ethics of war, whether targeted killing is morally and legally permissible, the morality of legal prohibitions on the use of indiscriminate weapons, the justification for the legal distinction between directly and indirectly harming civilians, whether human rights of unjust combatants are more prohibitive than have been thought, the moral categories and criteria needed to understand the proper justification for ending war, and the role of hope in the moral repair of combatants suffering from PTSD.

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Ethics Explainer: Just War Theory

Explainer politics + human rights, by the ethics centre 19 jul 2016, just war theory is an ethical framework used to determine when it is permissible to go to war. it originated with catholic moral theologians like augustine of hippo and thomas aquinas, though it has had a variety of different forms over time..

Today, just war theory is divided into three categories, each with its own set of ethical principles. The categories are  jus ad bellum ,  jus in bello , and  jus post bellum . These Latin terms translate roughly as ‘justice towards war’, ‘justice in war’, and ‘justice after war’.

Jus ad bellum

When political leaders are trying to decide whether to go to war or not, just war theory requires them to test their decision by applying several principles:

• Is it for a just cause ?

This requires war only be used in response to serious wrongs. The most common example of just cause is  self-defence , though coming to the defence of another innocent nation is also seen as a just cause by many (and perhaps the highest cause).

• Is it with the right intention ?

This requires that war-time political leaders be solely motivated, at a personal level, by reasons that make a war just. For example, even if war is waged in defence of another innocent country, leaders cannot resort to war because it will assist their re-election campaign.

• Is it from a legitimate authority ?

This demands war only be declared by leaders of a recognised political community and with the political requirements of that community.

• Does it have due proportionality ?

This requires us to imagine what the world would look like if we either did or didn’t go to war. For a war to be ‘just’ the quality of the peace resulting from war needs to superior to what would have happened if no war had been fought. This also requires we have some  probability of success  in going to war – otherwise people will suffer and die needlessly.

• Is it the last resort ?

This says we should explore all other reasonable options before going to war – negotiation, diplomacy, economic sanctions and so on.

Even if the principles of jus ad bellum are met, there are still ways a war can be unjust.

Jus in bello

These are the ethical principles that govern the way combatants conduct themselves in the ‘theatre of war’.

• Discrimination  requires combatants only to attack legitimate targets. Civilians, medics and aid workers, for example, cannot be the deliberate targets of military attack. However, according the principle of  double-effect , military attacks that kill some civilians as a side-effect may be permissible if they are both  necessary  and  proportionate .
• Proportionality  applies to both  jus ad bellum  and  jus in bello . Jus in bello requires that in a particular operation, combatants do not use force or cause harm that exceeds strategic or ethical benefits. The general idea is that you should use the minimum amount of force necessary to achieve legitimate military aims and objectives.
• No intrinsically unethical means  is a debated principle in just war theory. Some theorists believe there are actions which are always unjustified, whether or not they are used against enemy combatants or are proportionate to our goals. Torture, shooting to maim and biological weapons are commonly-used examples.
• ‘Following orders’ is not a defence  as the war crime tribunals after the Second World War clearly established. Military personnel may not be legally or ethically excused for following illegal or unethical orders. Every person bearing arms is responsible for their conduct – not just their commanders.

Jus post bello

Once a war is completed, steps are necessary to transition from a state of war to a state of peace. Jus post bello is a new area of just war theory aimed at identifying principles for this period. Some of the principles that have been suggested (though there isn’t much consensus yet) are:

• Status quo ante bellum , a Latin term meaning ‘the way things were before war’ – basically rights, property and borders should be restored to how they were before war broke out. Some suggest this is a problem because those can be the exact conditions which led to war in the first place.
• Punishment for war crimes  is a crucial step to re-installing a just system of governance. From political leaders down to combatants, any serious offences on either side of the conflict need to be brought to justice.
• Compensation of victims  suggests that, as much as possible, the innocent victims of conflict be compensated for their losses (though some of the harms of war will be almost impossible to adequately compensate, such as the loss of family members).
• Peace treaties  need to be fair and just to all parties, including those who are guilty for the war occurring.

Just war theory provides the basis for exercising ‘ethical restraint’ in war. Without restraint, philosopher Michael Ignatieff, argues there is no way to tell the difference between a ‘warrior’ and a ‘barbarian’.

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Philosophical Theories — Just War Theory

Essays on Just War Theory

Choosing an just war theory essay topic.

When it comes to writing an essay on Just War Theory, the topic you choose can significantly impact the quality and effectiveness of your work. Just War Theory is a complex and multi-faceted concept that deals with the ethical and moral aspects of warfare. Therefore, selecting a suitable topic is crucial for a successful essay.

Before delving into the process of choosing a topic, it is essential to understand the importance of selecting the right subject matter. Just War Theory is a timeless and relevant topic that has been debated for centuries. It addresses fundamental questions about the morality of war, the use of force, and the principles that govern armed conflict. By choosing an appropriate topic, you can contribute to the ongoing discourse on this critical issue and showcase your understanding of the complex ethical considerations surrounding war.

Choosing a Topic

When selecting a topic for your Just War Theory essay, it is essential to consider your interests, the scope of the assignment, and the depth of analysis required. Here are some tips to help you choose a suitable topic:

• Consider your interests: Choose a topic that resonates with you and aligns with your academic and personal interests. This will make the writing process more engaging and enjoyable.
• Research potential topics: Conduct preliminary research to identify potential topics that are relevant and have sufficient scholarly resources available for reference.
• Consult with your instructor: If you are unsure about a topic, seek guidance from your instructor. They can provide valuable insights and help you narrow down your options.
• Consider the scope and requirements: Ensure that the topic you choose aligns with the scope and requirements of the assignment. Take into account the length of the essay, the level of analysis required, and any specific guidelines provided by your instructor.

Recommended Essay Topics

Here is a detailed list of recommended Just War Theory essay topics, divided into categories to provide a variety of options for consideration:

Historical Perspectives

• The Just War Theory in Ancient Warfare: A Comparative Analysis
• The Role of Just War Theory in Medieval Conflicts
• Just War Principles in the Context of World War I
• The Evolution of Just War Theory in Modern Warfare

Ethical Considerations

• The Moral Dilemma of Pre-emptive Strikes: A Just War Perspective
• Humanitarian Intervention and Just War Theory: A Critical Examination
• The Ethics of Drone Warfare: Just War Implications
• The Use of Chemical Weapons and Just War Principles

Contemporary Issues

• Cyber Warfare and Just War Theory: Ethical Implications
• The Role of Non-State Actors in Just War Theory
• The Intersection of Just War Theory and Counterinsurgency Operations
• Just War Considerations in the Context of Asymmetric Warfare

Philosophical Perspectives

• The Influence of Just War Theory on Political Philosophy
• Just War Theory and the Concept of War Crimes
• The Relationship Between Just War Principles and International Law
• The Ethical Foundations of Just War Theory: A Philosophical Analysis

These essay topics cover a wide range of historical, ethical, contemporary, and philosophical perspectives related to Just War Theory. By selecting a topic from these categories, you can explore various dimensions of the subject matter and contribute to the ongoing discourse on the ethics of warfare.

Ultimately, the topic you choose for your Just War Theory essay should align with your interests, demonstrate your understanding of the subject matter, and provide a compelling and insightful analysis. With careful consideration and thoughtful deliberation, you can select a topic that will allow you to engage with the complexities of Just War Theory and produce a high-quality essay that contributes meaningfully to the field.

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Was the american revolution a just war.

By: Eric Patterson

July 4, 2013

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The Just War Theory Analytical Essay

Persian gulf war, the libyan war.

Bibliography

Just war theory is the most prominent standpoint on peace and war ethics. The theory deals with the right to resort to war and proper conduct of war. This policy equips international policy makers with accurate criteria to use to allow them evaluate the morality of interventions of specific arms of the military.

Criteria like just means, fair treatment of wounded and captives and just cause are the standpoint of the theory. The theory determines whether it is just to suffer because of war. Interstate wars began back then in historical periods and they still exist today though the causes and the methods have changed with time [1] .

Some examples of military interstate wars include Persian Gulf War and the Libyan War in which the United States participated. This essay highlights the Persian Gulf War and the Libyan Wars which the United States participated and it evaluates whether they were conducted for justness.

The Persian Gulf War was waged by United Nations and it was endorsed by alliance force from 34countries led mainly by the U.S. to fight Iraq for invading and annexing Kuwait.

The Iraqi troops had invaded Kuwait at the beginning of 1990 and this action was condemned by international nations. The U.N. Security Council immediately declared economic sanctions on Iraq. U.S. forces were then deployed in Saudi Arabia to prevent them from conducting more harm. The U.S. urged other nations to send their armed forces to Iraq to help in the war.

The U.S led intervention made Iraq, in part of the peace terms, accepted to recognize the sovereignty of the Kuwait republic. Kuwait also became less prone to Iraq invasion as Iraq had been ordered to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction. The no fly zone imposed over Iraq for a while ensured peace and stability in the region.

The United Nation invasion to fight the Iraq people was of significance; it offered a platform for Kuwait to reconstruct and develop its economy without the fear of invasion from Iraq [2] . This therefore means that the war was conducted for justness.

Following the Arab uprising, especially in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya was soon too caught up in the war wave. In the wave of the uprising, rebels organized attacks against Gadhafi’s government troops. In retaliation, Gadhafi responded by using military force on the opposition.

The amount of force used was too excessive in that civilian casualties were witnessed in large numbers. As a result the United Nations Security Council voted to impose a no fly zone over Libyan airspace. The Libyan rebels could not fight the Gadhafi’s troops alone and the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces were to help in the ousting of Muammar Gadhafi [3] .

The U.S.A provided intelligence and technical assistance to the NATO forces. At the end of the operation, Muammar Gadhafi was ousted and executed, and that marked the end of his reign in Libya. There was a sense of ‘freedom’ among Libyan citizens. It had brought an end to the bloodshed and violence that had rocked the nation. This was another instance where U.S.A had gone to war and the outcome was positive.

Brough, Michael. Rethinking the Just War Tradition . New York: SUNY Press, 2007.

Freedman, Lawrence. & Karsh, Ephraim. The Gulf Conflict: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order . New York: Scribners, 2007.

Ronald, Bruce. Libya – Continuity and Change . New York: Routledge, 2011.

• Michael, Brough. Rethinking the Just War Tradition . (New York: SUNY Press, 2007), 102.
• Lawrence, Freedman. & Ephraim, Karsh. The Gulf Conflict: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order , 1990–1991. (New York: Scribners, 2007), 110.
• Bruce, Ronald. Libya – Continuity and Change . (New York: Routledge, 2011), 122.
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IvyPanda. (2024, January 23). The Just War Theory. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-just-war/

"The Just War Theory." IvyPanda , 23 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/the-just-war/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'The Just War Theory'. 23 January.

IvyPanda . 2024. "The Just War Theory." January 23, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-just-war/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Just War Theory." January 23, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-just-war/.

IvyPanda . "The Just War Theory." January 23, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-just-war/.

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Just War Theory, Essay Example

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Words: 554

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Just war theory seeks to justify the act of war and the forms of war. The theory lays emphasis on the reasons for engaging in warfare activities and is the moral and legal justification sought to the resolution to fight. The theory takes two approaches in the in categorizing the requirements of a just war.

Zupan (2004) states that the main criterion that is essential is justifying the right to go to work or the Jus ad bellum. A just cause of war has been the most essential component of war justification. The right to go to war must come from a competent or just authority in order to be justified. The authority must have a distinction of justice in order to resort to war. The war must center on a justifiable cause. In view, of Zupan (2004) the justification of the need to go to war based on legitimate and extreme cases where the cause of war can be justified. The resolution to go to war must be the last resort in circumstances where no other option is available. All other means of resolutions explored in order to justify the engagement in war being the last resolution.

The intention of engaging in war must be right and act as the limitation of the extent of war. The outcome of the war must result in a reasonable success outcome. The result of the war must be efficient desirable and not regressive the war must result in achievements of desired objectives. The desires of fighting the war must be proportionate to the means of the war. The outcome must be of a greater value compared to the means of the war otherwise the war cannot be justified.

The difference between involuntary and involuntary euthanasia is that while voluntary euthanasia requires the individual’s consent involuntary euthanasia does not require consent from the individual. For voluntary euthanasia, the individual consent sought, but involuntary euthanasia the consent is not necessary. According to Medina (2004), a patient who requests to stop a life support machine while being fully aware of the resulting death considered voluntary euthanasia. A patient in a coma cannot give consent for euthanasia; therefore, involuntary euthanasia carried out.

Active euthanasia, on the other hand, involves the taking of measures to achieve euthanasia for instance the use of drugs or poison to cause death (Medina 2004). Passive euthanasia results where an act deliberately neglected that result in death, and results in the failure to resuscitate. The withdrawal of medication in order to result in death is an example of passive euthanasia.  The dissimilarity between the two is that active euthanasia requires doing something to cause death, but passive euthanasia involves not doing something that result in death.

The conviction of John Kevorkian based on voluntary, active euthanasia. The euthanasia performed by the doctor was after the consent of the patient obtained, as the choice was the patients wish. The individual wishing euthanasia controlled the machine, which the doctor used for euthanasia, therefore, the concept of consent was key. The method used in performing euthanasia was an active approach since there were substances used to cause death. The euthanasia in the case was voluntary euthanasia using the active procedure of execution.

Medina, L. M. (2004). Euthanasia . Greenhaven Press.

Zupan, D. S. (2004). War morality and autonomy: An investigation in just war theory . Ashgate Publishing.

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Home / Essay Samples / Philosophy / Just War Theory / War And Peace: Just War Theory

War And Peace: Just War Theory

• Category: Philosophy , Science , Literature
• Topic: Just War Theory , Theory , War and Peace

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What is War

The development of just war, the requirement for a just war, jus in bello and jus ad bellum, a last resort, discrimination between targets, catholic pacifism, the ethical reasons, the kantian approach to war, the utilitarian approach, the approach of natural law, catholic teaching and war.

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