"This book presents an introduction to the diverse and wide-ranging ethical aspects of war and peace. In a fair-minded and engaging analysis, Nigel Dower introduces the different ethical theories in traditional and contemporary debates - realism, just war theory and pacifism - and subjects each to detailed critical scrutiny. The book uses a wide range of examples from across the world, including discussions of nuclear weapons, new wars, terrorism, humanitarian intervention and human security." "Written as a textbook for those who have no prior knowledge of philosophical ethics, The Ethics of War and Peace is designed to help students understand how to engage ethically with the world. At the end of each chapter there is a helpful set of questions for individual reflection or group discussion." --Book Jacket.
This book presents a clear and comprehensive introduction to the diverse and wide-ranging ethical aspects of war and peace. In a fair-minded and engaging analysis, Nigel Dower introduces the different ethical theories in traditional and contemporary debates ? realism, just war theory and pacifism ? and subjects each to detailed critical scrutiny. He frames these debates within a related but distinct framework of three approaches to international relations, namely skeptical realism, internationalism and cosmopolitanism. The book also identifies and evaluates two further important perspectives, militarism and pacificism. Whilst analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the different outlooks, Dower makes a strong case for a cosmopolitan pacificist position, arguing that we need to see peace in more positive terms than merely the absence of war. The book uses a wide range of examples from across the world and includes discussion of nuclear weapons, new wars, terrorism, humanitarian intervention and human security. Written as a textbook for students who have no prior knowledge of philosophical ethics, The Ethics of War and Peace is designed to help students understand and see the relevance of how a professional philosopher can engage ethically with the world. Each chapter contains a helpful survey of its contents at the beginning and a set of questions for individual reflection or group discussion at the end. This book will be essential reading for students of security studies, conflict resolution, peace studies, philosophy and political theory and anyone interested in the ethical questions which arise from the study of war and peace.
A superb introduction to the ethical aspects of war and peace, this collection of tightly integrated essays explores the reasons for waging war and for fighting with restraint as formulated in a diversity of ethical traditions, religious and secular. Beginning with the classic debate between political realism and natural law, this book seeks to expand the conversation by bringing in the voices of Judaism, Islam, Christian pacifism, and contemporary feminism. In so doing, it addresses a set of questions: How do the adherents to each viewpoint understand the ideas of war and peace? What attitudes toward war and peace are reflected in these understandings? What grounds for war, if any, are recognized within each perspective? What constraints apply to the conduct of war? Can these constraints be set aside in situations of extremity? Each contributor responds to this set of questions on behalf of the ethical perspective he or she is presenting. The concluding chapters compare and contrast the perspectives presented without seeking to adjudicate their differences. Because of its inclusive, objective, comparative, and dialogic approach, the book serves as a valuable resource for scholars, journalists, policymakers, and anyone else who wants to acquire a better understanding of the range of moral viewpoints that shape current discussion of war and peace. In addition to the editor, the contributors are Joseph Boyle, Michael G. Cartwright, Jean Bethke Elshtain, John Finnis, Sohail H. Hashmi, Theodore J. Koontz, David R. Mapel, Jeff McMahan, Richard B. Miller, Aviezer Ravitzky, Bassam Tibi, Sarah Tobias, and Michael Walzer.
5 War and Peace in Shi'i Primary Narratives and Sources -- 6 Traditional Shi'i Ethics of War and Peace Untested: Jihad, Ideology, Revolution, and War -- 7 Postwar Revision and the Reconstruction of Modern Iranian-Shi'i Ethics of War and Peace -- 8 Terrorism and Shi'i Theologies of Martyrdom, Nonviolence, and Forgiveness -- 9 Diplomacy in between Nuclear Technology and Antibomb Theology -- Conclusion: Beyond a Minority Mentality: The Emerging Shi'i-Iranian Cosmopolitanism
//--> 9238C-9, 0-13-092383-4, Christopher, Paul, The Ethics of War and Peace: An Introduction to Legal and Moral Issues, 3/E //--> This classic introduction to the ethics of war and peace explores the legal and moral issues of when and how to use force to achieve political objectives. The just war tradition, the legal position of war, moral issues in war, and professional and humanitarian obligations. Ethicists, military personnel, and political analysts.
How do we frame decisions to use-or not use-military force? Who should do the killing? Do we need new paradigms to guide the use of force? And what does "victory" mean in contemporary conflict? In many ways, these are timeless questions. But they should be asked again in light of changing circumstances in the twenty-first century. The post-Cold War, post-9/11 world is one of contested and fragmented sovereignty. Contested because the norm of territorial integrity has shed some of its absolute nature. Fragmented because some states do not control all of their territory and cannot defeat violent groups operating within their borders. Humanitarian intervention, preventive war, and just war are all framing mechanisms aimed at convincing domestic and international audiences to go to war (or not), as well as to decide who is justified in legally and ethically killing. The international group of scholars assembled for this book critically examine these frameworks to ask if they are flawed, and if so, how they can be improved. Finally, the volume contemplates what all the killing and dying is for if victory may prove, ultimately, to be elusive.
This book assesses the ethical implications of using armed unmanned aerial vehicles (‘hunter-killer drones’) in contemporary conflicts. The American way of war is trending away from the heroic and towards the post-heroic, driven by a political preference for air-powered management of strategic risks and the reduction of physical risk to US personnel. The recent use of drones in the War on Terror has demonstrated the power of this technology to transcend time and space, but there has been relatively little debate in the United States and elsewhere over the embrace of what might be regarded as politically desirable and yet morally worrisome: risk-free killing. Arguably, the absence of a relationship of mutual risk between putative combatants poses a fundamental challenge to the status of war as something morally distinguishable from other forms of violence, and it also undermines the professional virtue of the warrior as a courageous risk-taker. This book considers the use of armed drones in the light of ethical principles that are intended to guard against unjust increases in the incidence and lethality of armed conflict. The evidence and arguments presented indicate that, in some respects, the use of armed drones is to be welcomed as an ethically superior mode of warfare. Over time, however, their continued and increased use is likely to generate more challenges than solutions, and perhaps do more harm than good. This book will be of much interest to students of the ethics of war, airpower, counter-terrorism, strategic studies and security studies in general.
In this double-blind, peer-reviewed volume, expert contributors draw upon philosophers such as Aristotle, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Emmanuel Levinas in order to explore how the ethics of war and peace resonate with organizational ethics.
This book rewrites the history of Christian peace ethics. Christian reflection on reducing violence or overcoming war has roots extending back to ancient Roman philosophy, and it eventually decisively influenced the formation of modern international law. This study traces the development of the tradition from Cicero, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas to early modern thinkers including Vitoria, Suarez, Martin Luther, Hugo Grotius and Immanuel Kant. These sources influenced modern peace ethics’ cosmopolitanism and international law-based approach, as can be found in the late Pope John Paul II’s peace teaching.
Lively political and public debates on war and morality have been a feature of the post-Cold War world. The Price of Peace argues that a re-examination of the just war tradition is therefore required. The authors suggest that despite fluctuations and transformations in international politics, the just war tradition continues to be relevant. However they argue that it needs to be reworked to respond to the new challenges to international security represented by the end of the Cold War and the impact of terrorism. With an interdisciplinary and transatlantic approach, this volume provides a dialogue between theological, political, military and public actors. By articulating what a reconstituted just war tradition might mean in practice, it also aims to assist policy-makers and citizens in dealing with the ethical dilemmas of war.
The book covers a wide range of topics and raises issues rarely touched on in the ethics-of-war literature, such as environmental concerns and the responsibility of bystanders.