Term Paper on "Just War Theory"

Term Paper 4 pages (1174 words) Sources: 7

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Just War Theory is based on the ideal that war should be "restrained, made more humane, and ultimately directed towards the aim of establishing lasting peace and justice." Adherents may believe that war is inevitable and therefore should be regulated so as to allow as little damage as possible; they may also believe that war is a barbaric tradition that should be contained as soon as possible via mutually agreed upon codes of conduct, then phased out.

While humanizing war efforts is effective in minimizing cost, trade damage, and loss of life, it also has another significant advantage: by agreeing upon certain conventions for war, the two enemies have established that the war is between two rational parties that, despite their irresolvable conflict or conflicts, understand that war is an ends to a means and not a trend to be set and never revoked. "It is only when the enemy is seen to be a people with whom one will do business in the following peace that tacit or explicit rules are formed for how wars should be fought and who they should involve."

In order for a war to be considered "just," it must fit a set of predefined criteria:

just war must be declared by a legitimate authority.

I just war must be declared and prosecuted with the right intention. (in defense of one's country; to redress a grave wrong; to rescue a threatened people.)

There must be a strong probability of success.

The good obtained must be proportional to the harm done.

War must be a last resort (i.e. reasonable peaceful means of address must be exhausted).

Once upon a time, the beginning of a war was indicated by the pillaging of country-side villages as an army marched to attack. In a modern era of light-speed communications and complex diplomacy, however, channels of authority must be strictly adhered to so that, when the war is officially declared, it is recognized as legitimate and representative of the entire nation or group from whence the declaration came.

When President Bush declared war on Saddam Hussein (and terrorism, despite protests that one cannot declare war on a person or an ideal), he has both the popular support of the nation which he represented -- thanks, some would say, to the gut reaction to the 9/11 attack -- and support from his advisors and subordinates. Because President Bush was recognized by his countryman and government as one with the authority to declare war on behalf of the United States of America, his declaration was legitimate and accepted by the world at large.

Popular support does not, according to Just War Theory, offer justification in and of itself. When Saddam Hussein found himself in military and monetary trouble and attacked Kuwait, a small country of which "the borders are not readily defensible and the population is not necessarily cohesive," primarily for its considerable oil resources, much of the world disapproved. So much so, in fact, that the United States took action and fought against Iraq, though U.S. interests in Kuwait that were not terribly different than Iraq's may have played a part in that decision.

Regardless of moral or immoral intent, war has a tendency to be an incredible drain on resources, both capital and human. For that reason, even a moral war does is not justified if it does not have a reasonable likelihood of achieving its goal. This criteria for a just war seems almost too obvious to mention, but for political reasons some wars are begun… READ MORE

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