In Defence of War

Pacifism is popular. Many hold that war is unnecessary, since peaceful means of resolving conflict are always available, if only we had the will to look for them. Or they believe that war is wicked, essentially involving hatred of the enemy and carelessness of human life. Or they posit the absolute right of innocent individuals not to be deliberately killed, making it impossible to justify war in practice. Against the virus of wishful thinking, anti-militarycaricature, and the domination of moral deliberation by rights-talk In Defence of War asserts that belligerency can be morally justified, even while it is tragic and morally flawed. Recovering the earlyChristian tradition of just war thinking, it argues in favour of aggressive war in punishment of grave injustice; that morality can justify military intervention even in transgression of positive international law (e.g., Kosovo); that love and the doctrine of double effect can survive combat; that the constraints of proportionality are sufficiently permissive to sanction Britain's belligerency in 1914-18; and that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was justified.