Just War Theory

“For war, as a grave act of killing, needs to be justified.” These words were written by Murray N. Rothbard, dean of the Austrian School and founder of modern libertarianism, who spent much of his academic career trying to determine what, exactly, defined a “just war”. In fact, for as long as humans have been fighting wars, there have been quotations referring to the justification and moralities of wars and how warfare can be considered fair and acceptable to each society’s individual standards. While the time and place of each war differs, the reality of the devastation of battle may be found warranted by those fighting using these just war standards to vindicate their actions.

Just war can be traced back to the pagan teachings, which was later refined by Christian leaders to justify their followers into going to war (Cahill, 2005). St. Augustine was identified as the first to offer his view on war and justice, viewing war as a necessary evil if peace and justice were to come and labeling it as something practical when conflict arises. Later on, St. Thomas Aquinas revised Augustine’s version and added three more conditions: the war had to be waged by the proper authority, the cause had to be just, and the intentions had to be right. All of these additions and refinements lead to the same just war theory that we are familiar with today (Baer, 2006).

The Just War Theory is a set of criteria that are used to judge whether a war is morally justifiable. It was St Augustine in the third century that formulated the Just War theory, and was formalised 10 centuries later by Thomas Aquinas. There are seven criteria by which a war can be judged to be just. Among the rules are Just Cause – there must be a very good reason for going to war, such as protecting your country from invasion. There should be a formal declaration of war by the legal government. It has to be the last resort and all other alternatives must be exhausted. There must be a reasonable chance of success and great care must be

When is it justifiable to engage in war? This question has plagued humanity for centuries and continues to do so. The theory of just war addresses three important questions when considering and dealing with war. These components are when is it justifiable to go to war, the right ways to conduct proceedings during war, and the justification of terminating war. The first part of the theory, originally written in Latin as jus ad bellum, is an important idea within Pope Urban II’s, “Speech at Clermont.” In the 11th century Pope Urban II gave this speech as a call for crusade with the hope of freeing Jerusalem from Muslim control. They eventually succeeded in this mission and took the city of Jerusalem. The “Speech at Clermont,” is now an important source for understanding the justifications of going to war within the medieval just war theory. Throughout the speech Pope Urban II justified the crusade by claiming it was the responsibility of the Christian people to regain the Holy Land, to protect their fellow Christians in the East, and their duty to stop the “disgraceful” and “demon worshipping” Muslim people.

One important theory within International Relations shows a moral aspect on how to conduct war. This theory is called Just War Theory. Just War Theory is a doctrine of military ethics from a philosophical and Catholic viewpoint. This theory consists of two parts: Jus ad bellum (the right to go to war) and Jus in bello (right conduct within war).

Clinton, Bill. "U.S. Military Strikes on Iraq Are Justified." The Middle East. Ed. William Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. Document URL

The legitimate defense of a nation and the responsibility of the Security Council to take actions in the course of maintaining peace within its areas of influence. With the establishment of United Nations and the modernization of war and its materials; the theories and doctrines of the past also needed to evolve. The modern Just war theory in composed of two principles: jus ad bellum, the right to conduct war, and jus in bello, the correct conduct within war. Each principle also has its own set of criteria to follow. Jus ad bellum contains six: Just cause, right intention, proper authority and public declaration, last resort, probability of success, and proportionality. (Orend, 2006)

The just war theory has a long history. Parts of the Bible hint at ethical behavior in war and concepts of just cause, announcing the justice of war by divine intervention.

In addition to the legality of a combatant’s actions, just war theory concerns itself with the morality of a combatant’s actions. This is an important fact to recognize because, often times, terms will have a slightly different moral definition than the tradition legal definition with which average persons are familiar. Before proceeding any further, it is of vast important to understand the terms excuse and permission as a just war theorists understands them to mean. For the interest of this paper, when a combatant performs a wrongful act, whether it be moral or legally wrong, but the combatant is not blameworthy, he is excused. (McMahan 110). Just war theorists believe a combatant is premised to complete an action if the act is not morally wrong, and cannot warrant a justifiable complaint. The important take away to remember is the victim of an excused act would have a justifiable reason

The central claim of just war theorists is that war is a bad thing, but under certain circumstances, it may be justified or even obligatory. They believe, that there must be some constrains on the conduct of war. In other words, just war theory states, that the use of force must be regulated by a set of mutually agreed rules of combat. Just war theory is built on principles of just cause and just means which were eventually developed into the laws of war and that are enforced by military and civilian courts. Just cause refers to the possible justifications for going to war. Just means refers to the limits of what

Each of these rules must be shown and satisfied. “Failure to fulfill even one renders the resort to force unjust, and thus subject to criticism, resistance, and punishment” (Orend 61). Just war theory is meant to be more demanding than international law. Even though the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agreed to send troops to Somalia, this approving body does not automatically render the gesture moral. One must apply the principals of just war theory first.

According to traditional just war theory, a just cause must serve peace and not simply protect an unjust status quo. War must be used as a last resort and all pacifistic approaches must be

For example, if a nation intervenes unjustly into the civil war of another nation (other than to balance the fight after the aggression of another state’s intervention) and then somehow finds their forces defensive, the use of a nuclear weapon would not be just as their entry into the war was unjust. However, in the case that a state confronts aggression across their border and their existence depends on the use of nuclear weapons, and the state has passed every aspect of the Just War theory, then using a nuclear weapon should be considered just. In this case the evil committed is rightly accredited to the aggressive

The first part of Just War Theory is Jus Ad Bellum—America has a morally righteous cause to go to war because it is motivated by defending civilians. Part of this is that a just war can only be taken by a legitimate authority, most commonly a state. Not only would the United States be a legitimate state, the president will have authorization from congress to start this war, legitimizing a war against ISIS domestically. Another part of jus ad bellum is having a “right intention” that is motivated by defense. This is the case for ISIS. In this scenario considering ISIS launched a series of attacks against American embassies, killing hundred. ISIS has not and will not just stop attacking civilians until they are forced to or they get what they want. A

The Just War Theory is a doctrine founded by Saint Augustine which has helped bring much discussion and debate to wars and the morality to fight in them. Wars and fights between people have gone on forever and are not perceived to stop anytime soon so it is important that some people thought about when and why they should ever fight. For many years Christians never part toke in this fighting due to teachings of the Bible and Jesus' teaching on 'turning the other cheek' and 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. Saint Augustine would be one of the first to talk about how a Christian could be a soldier and serve God at the same time. Through this thought we would receive the Just War Theory which gave a set of requirements for someone to partake