Just War Theory: Is it Applicable?

I had a CORE assignment critiquing the Just War Theory and thought that I would put what I wrote for it up here…

The Just War Theory is a set of principles that states that a just war can only be waged as a last resort, is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority, can only be fought to redress wrong suffered, can only be fought with a reasonable chance of success, the ultimate goal is to re-establish peace, the violence must be proportional to the injury suffered, and the weapons used should discriminate between combatants and noncombatants. Even though St. Augustine first outlined these rules, they are still applicable to today’s society; they are not antiquated. There are two alternatives to the Just War: complete war and no war. Complete war is a war in which anything goes and is considered morally unacceptable by most societies. No war has a corollary that requires that all people follow it and that diplomacy would be the solver of all problems. The problem with no war is that some people will not abide by it, like dictators, and will take advantage of the system by doing whatever they want as long as they pay lip service to the principle.

Just War is the logical middle ground between these extremes and could sometimes be considered a moral imperative. A startling number of people are starting to believe that war never solves anything. My question to them would be: what do you think ended slavery, extreme forms of fascism, Nazism and communism….diplomacy? We tried that; it didn’t work. The only thing that did work was fighting a war. People argue that there are problems with the theory’s principles such as who would be considered a legitimate authority, does the self-defense argument include preemptive strikes, and how do you distinguish between combatants and noncombatants. I agree that there are areas that need to be closely evaluated when considering war but that doesn’t mean that no war is a viable option all of the time.

I have a cousin who is in Iraq patrolling the Iranian border. I know that he’s in danger every day but I also know that the reason he’s over there is a good reason. Without his and his fellow soldiers, Iraq would not be working towards a more stable governmental structure with checks and balances that can help prevent another dictator from coming to power. I received a picture in my email just after the elections in Iraq and it reminded me that what we are fighting for is not oil or land but for freedom of all people…including her:

What we fight for is hope. Hope for a better future, maybe even one without war, but we still have to stand up and fight for it, and the best way we can accomplish that morally is by using the Just War Principles. We’re not perfect and we do make mistakes but we still need to be willing to fight if necessary.