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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Just War Theory: Foundation From Philosophical Underpinnings To Theological Integration And Its Application To The Ukrainian Conflict, Sarah G. Beddingfield Oct 2023

Just War Theory: Foundation From Philosophical Underpinnings To Theological Integration And Its Application To The Ukrainian Conflict, Sarah G. Beddingfield

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

On February 24th, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with the intent to annex the neighboring country into the Russian fold. This unprovoked action took the world by surprise bringing about a whirl of questions surrounding why and how this could occur. The concept of just war theory resurfaced as the global debate ensued over whether Russia was justified in its violent actions. This research aims to analyze the origins, Biblical integration, and modern form of just war theory. Following a foundational understanding of the theory itself, the research is then applied to the case study of the Russian invasion of Ukraine …


The Problem With Pacifism: How Pacifism Can Lead To Genocide And Why One Should Fight To Combat Evil, Mike Consiglio Apr 2022

The Problem With Pacifism: How Pacifism Can Lead To Genocide And Why One Should Fight To Combat Evil, Mike Consiglio

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

No abstract provided.


Stoicism And Just War Theory, Leonidas D. Konstantakos Dec 2021

Stoicism And Just War Theory, Leonidas D. Konstantakos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient philosophy of Stoicism, itself one of the foundations for international law, can improve contemporary just war thinking by forming a coherent set of philosophical principles to serve as a foundation for a just war theory. A Stoic approach considers justifications for moral actions to come not from an appeal to human rights, conformity to deontological rules, or from the utility of the actions themselves, but from virtuous character traits and corresponding virtuous actions. As such, a Stoic approach to just war theory is a virtue ethics perspective in which metaethical incentive for moral action is the agent’s own …


Can Soldiers Do ”The Decent Thing” In War? The Just War Tradition, The Laws Of War, And Saving Private Ryan, Ted Van Baarda Oct 2020

Can Soldiers Do ”The Decent Thing” In War? The Just War Tradition, The Laws Of War, And Saving Private Ryan, Ted Van Baarda

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.


A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener Jan 2020

A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener

Senior Honors Theses

For Israel, terrorism has plagued the nation since its beginning. Terrorism rears its ugly head in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons; however, in both the United States and Israel, Islamic extremism has presented itself as the largest threat. Since its birth as a nation, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to World War II and beyond. These wars were fought between nation-states and traditional powers, but since the attacks on 9/11, the United States finds itself in a new kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. …


Nonstate Actors And International Law: Just War Theory Or The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights?, Jason Lee Mitchell May 2019

Nonstate Actors And International Law: Just War Theory Or The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights?, Jason Lee Mitchell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is a debate taking place within the global war on terror (GWT), and its legal and moral parameters are established by two basic arguments. The first is that “Citizens who associate themselves with the military arm of the enemy government, and with its aid, guidance and direction enter this country bent on hostile acts are enemy belligerents within the meaning of the Hague Convention and the law of war” (Ex parte Quirin, 37). The second is that an “Enemy combatant” is a general category that subsumes two sub-categories: lawful and unlawful combatants. The conclusion as it currently stands is …


Iris Young, Radical Responsibility, And War, Harry Van Der Linden Sep 2014

Iris Young, Radical Responsibility, And War, Harry Van Der Linden

Harry van der Linden

In this paper I argue that a merit of Iris Young’s social connection model of responsibility for structural injustices is that it directs the American people’s responsibility for unjust wars, such as the recent war against Iraq, toward their responsibility to abolish the “war machine,” including the “empire of bases,” that is a contributing factor of unjust U.S. wars. I also raise two objections to her model. First, her model leads us to downplay the culpability of the American people as a political collective in voting to continue the Iraq war with the re-election of George W. Bush. Second, Young …


Iris Young, Radical Responsibility, And War, Harry Van Der Linden Jan 2014

Iris Young, Radical Responsibility, And War, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

In this paper I argue that a merit of Iris Young’s social connection model of responsibility for structural injustices is that it directs the American people’s responsibility for unjust wars, such as the recent war against Iraq, toward their responsibility to abolish the “war machine,” including the “empire of bases,” that is a contributing factor of unjust U.S. wars. I also raise two objections to her model. First, her model leads us to downplay the culpability of the American people as a political collective in voting to continue the Iraq war with the re-election of George W. Bush. Second, Young …


Decolonisation As Peacemaking: Applying Just War Theory To The Canadian Context, Sam Grey Dec 2010

Decolonisation As Peacemaking: Applying Just War Theory To The Canadian Context, Sam Grey

Sam Grey

For decades now, Canada has been seen as a global exemplar of peacemaking and peacekeeping, yet the troubled relationship between its state and the Indigenous peoples within its borders does little to support this image. There is, in fact, a strong case to be made that the ongoing crisis of Indigenous–settler state relations in Canada is best understood as a protracted war; or more succinctly, as a failure to achieve peace following the initial violence of conquest and colonisation. Accordingly, it makes sense to apply just war theory — a doctrine of military ethics — to the issue. Grounded in …


Barack Obama, Resort To Force, And U.S. Military Hegemony, Harry Van Der Linden Sep 2009

Barack Obama, Resort To Force, And U.S. Military Hegemony, Harry Van Der Linden

Harry van der Linden

Just War Theorists have neglected that a lack of “just military preparedness” on the side of a country seriously undermines its capability to resort justly to military force. In this paper, I put forth five principles of “just military preparedness” and show that since the new Obama administration will seek to maintain the United States’ dominant military position in the world, it will violate each of the principles. I conclude on this basis that we should anticipate that the Obama administration will add another page to the United States’ history of unjust military interventions.


Partiality And Weighing Harm To Non-Combatants, David Lefkowitz Apr 2009

Partiality And Weighing Harm To Non-Combatants, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The author contests the claim made independently by F.M. Kamm and Thomas Hurka that combatants ought to assign greater weight to collateral harm done to their compatriot noncombatants then they assign to collateral harm done to enemy non-combatants. Two arguments by analogy offered in support of such partiality, one of which appeals to permissible self/other asymmetry in cases of harming the few to save the many, and the second of which appeals to parents' justifiable partiality to their children, are found wanting. The author also rebuts Kamm's argument that combatants should assign greater weight to collateral harm done to neutrals …


Questioning Just War Theory, Harry Van Der Linden Mar 2009

Questioning Just War Theory, Harry Van Der Linden

Harry van der Linden

Review of: "Michael Walzer, Arguing About War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. Pp. 208. Cloth, $25.00. ISBN: 0-300-10365-4."


Would The United States Doctrine Of Preventative War Be Justified As A United Nations Doctrine?, Harry Van Der Linden Mar 2009

Would The United States Doctrine Of Preventative War Be Justified As A United Nations Doctrine?, Harry Van Der Linden

Harry van der Linden

On the same day, 23 September 2003, that President George W. Bush defended his Iraq policy to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan also spoke to the Assembly. Annan reiterated his opposition to the view that states may independently be justified in using military force “preemptively” to avoid the dangers posed by the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) among states and terrorists, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.


Barack Obama, Resort To Force, And U.S. Military Hegemony, Harry Van Der Linden Jan 2009

Barack Obama, Resort To Force, And U.S. Military Hegemony, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Just War Theorists have neglected that a lack of “just military preparedness” on the side of a country seriously undermines its capability to resort justly to military force. In this paper, I put forth five principles of “just military preparedness” and show that since the new Obama administration will seek to maintain the United States’ dominant military position in the world, it will violate each of the principles. I conclude on this basis that we should anticipate that the Obama administration will add another page to the United States’ history of unjust military interventions.


In Harm's Way: Justification, Excuse, And Civilian Safety In Just War Theory, Sam Grey Dec 2007

In Harm's Way: Justification, Excuse, And Civilian Safety In Just War Theory, Sam Grey

Sam Grey

Just War Theory asserts that armed conflict can be fought in a way that safeguards moral and legal norms while responding to pragmatic/military imperatives. One of the ways in which it seeks to safeguard justice is through specific provisions for the immunity of, and due care for, the vulnerable and innocent. Unfortunately, two doctrines within Just War Theory – the Doctrine of Double Effect and the Doctrine of Supreme Emergency – suspend or vacate these provisions. The net effect is to render justifications inaccessible, leaving only excuses, the use of which establishes that no one is truly accountable, no meaningful …


Would The United States Doctrine Of Preventative War Be Justified As A United Nations Doctrine?, Harry Van Der Linden Jan 2007

Would The United States Doctrine Of Preventative War Be Justified As A United Nations Doctrine?, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

On the same day, 23 September 2003, that President George W. Bush defended his Iraq policy to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan also spoke to the Assembly. Annan reiterated his opposition to the view that states may independently be justified in using military force “preemptively” to avoid the dangers posed by the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) among states and terrorists, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.


Introduction: Comparative Ethics And The Crucible Of War, G. Scott Davis Jan 2006

Introduction: Comparative Ethics And The Crucible Of War, G. Scott Davis

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Michael Howard takes the title of his recent essay, The Invention of Peace, from the nineteenth-century jurist and historian of comparative law Henry Maine, who wrote that "war appears to be as old as mankind, but peace is a modem invention."' We moderns tend to assume that the great wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were aberrant eruptions marring the peaceful status quo, but the opposite better describes the long view. Outside the Garden of Eden, human communities have always been involved in political conflict and that conflict has regularly escalated to the use of lethal force, both …


Questioning Just War Theory, Harry Van Der Linden Jan 2005

Questioning Just War Theory, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Review of: "Michael Walzer, Arguing About War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. Pp. 208. Cloth, $25.00. ISBN: 0-300-10365-4."