Looking Inward Together: Just War Thinking and Our Shared Moral Emotions

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Morkevičius
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Just War ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Moral Injury ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
External Focus ◽  
The Law

AbstractJust war thinking serves a social and psychological role that international law cannot fill. Law is dispassionate and objective, while just war thinking accounts for emotions and the situatedness of individuals. While law works on us externally, making us accountable to certain people and institutions, just war thinking affects us internally, making us accountable to ourselves. Psychologically, an external focus leads to feelings of shame, while an inward focus generates feelings of guilt. Philosophers have long recognized the importance of these two moral emotions. Recently, psychologists have found that feelings of guilt are linked to positive social outcomes, such as the desire for reconciliation and reparation, while shame generates anger and hostility. Just war thinking, as an inward-looking tradition, has a special relationship with guilt. By focusing on moral emotions, just war thinking can move beyond the law in four ways, by developing an ethic of accountability, by providing a foundation for addressing moral injury, by providing a common language for discussing the costs of war, and for identifying ethical problems in radically new contexts.

The Paradox of “Just War” in Rousseau's Theory of Interstate Relations

2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
BLAISE BACHOFEN
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Just War ◽  
The State ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Utopian Theory

In theSocial Contract, Rousseau declares that he has given up the idea of discussing the “external relations” of states. Yet numerous texts—including a recently reconstituted work about the law of war—show that he thought very seriously about the question of the nature and origin of war and of the possibility of making war subject to the rule of law. Rousseau, in contrast to Hobbes, links war's appearance to that of the sovereign states; the state of war is therefore the necessary result of international relations. Moreover, he considers the international law as chimerical. How can he then conceive a non-utopian theory of “just war”? My hypothesis is that his conception of the law of war is deduced from principles of internal political law and arises from pragmatic necessity. The state that discredits itself in its manner of waging war weakens itself while believing that it is reinforcing itself.

The Evolution of the Concept of the Just War in International Law

1939 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim von Elbe
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Just War ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Civilized World

War, as a social phenomenon, has been defined as “a fight between human societies, in primitive conditions between savage tribes, in the civilized world between states.” Ever since history has recorded the activities of organized groups, war has been one of its principal topics. Since it appears to be a fundamental element in their life, its explanation has been sought in the basic conditions of their existence. Thus, it is said, the law of growth and expansion, innate as a natural tendency in the individual being as well as in organized societies, compels them with irresistible force to assert their rights and to seek “security” by combating others. War, it seems, is ordained by nature and is an inevitable result of competition.

scholarly journals Iraq, the U.N. and the Law

1969 ◽  
pp. 560
Author(s):  
L. C. Green
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Just War ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law ◽  
United Nations Charter

This paper discusses the international legal issues arising out of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the United Nations response to the conflict. The author frames his analysis considering just war theory, international law and the United Nations Charter. After looking at the historical relations between Iraq and Kuwait, Professor Green examines the United Nations response to the conflict considering the related U.N. resolutions. Reference is made to the law of armed conflict and international law on the treatment of civilians and diplomats. Finally, the author briefly discusses legal problems faced by some of the states aligned against Iraq.

The New Terrain of International Law

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Alter
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
Delegation Of Authority ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law

In 1989, when the Cold War ended, there were six permanent international courts. Today there are more than two dozen that have collectively issued over thirty-seven thousand binding legal rulings. This book charts the developments and trends in the creation and role of international courts, and explains how the delegation of authority to international judicial institutions influences global and domestic politics. The book presents an in-depth look at the scope and powers of international courts operating around the world. Focusing on dispute resolution, enforcement, administrative review, and constitutional review, the book argues that international courts alter politics by providing legal, symbolic, and leverage resources that shift the political balance in favor of domestic and international actors who prefer policies more consistent with international law objectives. International courts name violations of the law and perhaps specify remedies. The book explains how this limited power—the power to speak the law—translates into political influence, and it considers eighteen case studies, showing how international courts change state behavior. The case studies, spanning issue areas and regions of the world, collectively elucidate the political factors that often intervene to limit whether or not international courts are invoked and whether international judges dare to demand significant changes in state practices.

«Soft law» in the law of the Eurasian Ec onomic Union: place and possibility of challenging

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
P.P. Myslivsky ◽  
◽  
I.N. Shchurova
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Economic Union ◽  
The Law

In international law, there are sources that do not formally have binding force, but may indicate the emergence of the opinio juris of states, as well as emerging practice. The Eurasian Economic Union also issues acts that are not formally binding: they are adopted by the Eurasian Economic Commission in the form of recommendations. In addition, the Union takes into account the recommendatory acts of other international organizations. At present, the practice of the EAEU Court indicates that this body takes into account “soft law” in the course of argumentation, but proceeds from the impossibility of challenging acts that are recommendations of the EEC. The authors give ways to establish the possibility of challenging the EEC recommendations in the EAEU Court.

Defensive Deterrence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yishai Beer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Practical Problem ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
National Defense ◽  
Global Security ◽  
Defense Strategy ◽  
Essential Component ◽  
The Law ◽  
Compliance With The Law ◽  
The Military

This chapter deals with the lack of coherency between strategic reality—which uses deterrence as an essential strategic tool—and the prevailing law. Deterrence is a tool for enforcing compliance with the law; it promotes the containment of potential conflicts. It is pivotal in strategic thinking and, in many cases, an essential component of the national-defense strategy of law-abiding states. But although deterrence is central to the management of global security, in current international law deterrence considerations are perceived with suspicion and mistrust. It is perceived as an unlawful punitive measure. The lack of consensus on lawful deterrence, however, might create a vacuum that invites aggressors and transgressors. This chapter offers normative suggestions for introducing defensive deterrence and overcoming the practical problem of putting it into practice within the current contours of the law, by using the military professionalism criterion.

Military Professionalism and Humanitarian Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yishai Beer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
The Core ◽  
Humanitarian Mission ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Professional Perspective ◽  
The Law ◽  
Preemptive Strike ◽  
Military Professionalism

This book seeks to revitalize the humanitarian mission of the international law governing armed conflict, which is being frustrated due to states’ actual practice. In order to achieve its two aims—creating an environment in which full abidance by the law becomes an attainable norm, thus facilitating the second and more important aim of reducing human suffering—it calls for the acknowledgment of realpolitik considerations that dictate states’ and militaries’ behavior. This requires recognition of the core interests of law-abiding states, fighting in their own self-defense—those that, from their militaries’ professional perspective, are essential in order to exercise their defense. Internalizing the importance of existential security interests, when drawing the contours of the law, should not automatically come at the expense of the core values of the humanitarian agenda—for example, the distinction rule. Rather, it allows more room for the humanitarian arena. The suggested tool to allow for such an improved dialogue is the standards and principles of military professionalism. Militaries function in a professional manner; they respect their respective doctrines, operational principles, fighting techniques, and values. Their performances are not random or incidental. The suggested paradigm surfaces and leverages the constraining elements hidden in military professionalism. It suggests a new paradigm in balancing the principles of military necessity and humanity, it deals with the legality of a preemptive strike and the leveraging of military strategy as a constraining tool, and it offers a normative framework for introducing deterrence within the current contours of the law.

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