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When is war just (and not just war)?
Writing in the March 9, 2003, edition of the New York Times, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter strongly criticized (ProQuest Historical Newspapers article) the policies of President George W. Bush. In particular, Carter argued that war against Iraq would violate the key tenets of "just war" theory. Did it? And what is a "just war"?
The notion of the "just war" dates back to the fourth century, when St. Augustine, an influential Catholic bishop, argued that it was sometimes necessary to "go to war to obtain peace." Neither a warmonger nor a pacifist, St. Augustine believed that wars fought for just purposes were themselves just. Over the centuries, numerous religious scholars, notably St. Thomas Aquinas, have refined and expanded St. Augustine's thinking.
The resulting theory, which persisted through the start of the new millennium, is based on the following propositions:
- The war's objective must be just.
- The war must be initiated and led by a legitimate authority.
- The harm caused by the fighting must not exceed whatever harm the war has been undertaken to redress.
St. Augustine reading
© Getty Images
In 1993, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops listed 10 "just war" principles, which they divided into two categories: jus ad bellum (literally, "the justice of war") and jus in bello (meaning, "justice in war").
In specifying the requirements of jus ad bellum, the bishops stated that a decision to go to war could be justified only in cases where there was a reasonable chance of success and when all peaceful alternatives had been exhausted.
In spelling out what constituted jus in bello, the bishops called on combatants to do everything they could to avoid harming civilians and to achieve their objectives using as little force as possible.
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