Jus ad bellum

The basic requirement of jus ad bellum is possessing just cause. The clearest example of just cause would be the right of self-defense: if a nation is attacked it has the right to defend itself. By extension, this also means the right to defend other nations from aggression to meet treaty obligations or under the direction of an international regime such as the United Nations. By further extrapolation, the right of self-defense allows for preemptive action if an attack is imminent.5 This does not mean that a preventative war to forestall an attack at sometime in the indeterminate future is necessarily just. Even in the clearest cases of aggression, however, the principle of last resort requires that all peaceful means of resolving disputes…

The “Just War” theory was created with the intent of helping determine whether someone could justify war ( jus ad bellum), what the conduct during war should be (jus in bello), and if the end goal was for peace or termination of the war (jus post bellum). Before the Crusades, Pope Urban II gave speeches to rally up support for war against Muslims who had taken control of Christian land. Although Urban II’s ideas seem reasonable, they actually contradict the “just war” theory. He uses any means…

coupled with major scholarly discussions concerning the Vietnam War. Philosophers and historians over the centuries have shaped the Just War Theory to help give a clear cut guide to justifying International Wars with a significant formulation contributed by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his work Summa Theologicae. According to the theory, the moral justification of every international war is divided into two parts: the reasons for fighting and the means adopted in the actual fighting (Walzer, 2001).…

proper actions during the conflict. This theory consists of two major parts (Jus Ad Bellum the right to go to war, and Jus in Bello how combatants should act) that themselves can be broken down to smaller individual elements. Some of these smaller elements will be applied to show that the war whose prelude is detailed in the Gita is not just. Before going to war there must be a cause and that is the first section of the theory; this portion known as just cause is defined by innocent life in…

agree that something needs to be done to ensure the safety and security of the United States of America, but what exactly needs to be done is an entirely separate argument. If ISIS launched a series of attacks against American embassies and caused mass casualties overseas, it is the United States’ responsibility as the indispensable nation to act against them and for those who cannot fight for themselves. According to the Just War Theory, American military intervention is justified on moral…

Throughout human existence, war has been a prevalent issue amongst countries fighting for their prominence. Using Neta Crawford’s Just War Theory, the prompt’s hypothetical situation meets all requirements for jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum (Crawford, 2003). War in the Middle East is justified on the grounds of it being self-defense used to disable terrorist groups in the region and bring an end to the stranglehold ISIS has on the area. The initiation of war is just, given the…

The “Just War Theory” (JWT) is a body of thought that has been constructed over many centuries. The theory is widely contested and has many critics. JWT discusses certain situations and instances in which the use of physical force is “justified” to accomplish desired outcomes. I consider this physical force or aggressive action an act of “war.” In my work, I will discuss how the environment is incorporated into this, and if it plays a factor in justifying “aggressive acts.” I will also take…

this cause? It is worth noting here that there is a contradictory nature in humanitarian intervention. By intervening to try to protect rights, rights are violated. Because of this, it is not plausible that intervening wars are a useful tool to promote rights in a foreign country (Norman 2013). However, Walzer suggests that such wars are beneficial given that “all states have an interest in global stability and global humanity” (2004, p. 74). For Caney (2005), the probability of success…

In In Defense of War, Nigel Biggar argues that war can be a just means to correct acts of injustice taken by many countries, and that it is the duty of other countries to defend those who cannot defend themselves; just war, therefore, must be a humanitarian, defensive action. Biggar supports this thesis by first explaining the two basic principles of just war: jus ad bellum-- regarding the justice of going to war in the first place-- and in bello-- regarding justice in the course of fighting…

It is a field of critical ethical reflection and moral decision making. This is the reason there are nearly as many Just War theories as there are just war theorists. Just War theorists are focused on the grounds for going to war in the first place, or Jus ad Bellum principles, and with that standards of ethical conduct that soldiers are expected to abide by while in combat, or Jus in Bello principles. Historically, studies and arguments of ethical theory have helped lay the foundation for…