International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   The just war tradition and its modern codification into the laws of war serve to define what is considered morally acceptable in war. In the words of one of its most famous scholars, just war is the tradition that “has grown up to justify and limit war” ( Johnson 1981 :xxi). This statement captures the philosophical balancing act that has characterized just war theory in its arguments that war can, indeed, be the moral and correct course of action, and the belief that in order to fulfill its purpose as a moral exercise, restrictions must be placed upon the practice of war. Just war can broadly be considered a way of thinking about political violence that appreciates that, while limits on violence are necessary, justice may sometimes require the use of force. While there are many possible variations in this broad position, the just war tradition is the most dominant framework for analyzing the morality of war. Just war theory faces challenges from two philosophical fronts: from realism on one side, considering moral questions about war to be irrelevant, and pacifism on the other, denying that war can ever be moral. The positioning of just war between realism and pacifism is contested. Some feminist theorists consider just war to be much closer to a realist position. Elshtain (1992) , for example, refers to just war as “modified realism.” Feminist critiques ... log in or subscribe to read full text