Just War: Authority, Tradition, and Practice

The just war tradition is central to the practice of international relations, in questions of war, peace, and the conduct of war in the contemporary world, but surprisingly few scholars have questioned the authority of the tradition as a source of moral guidance for modern statecraft. Just War: Authority, Tradition, and Practice brings together many of the most important contemporary writers on just war to consider questions of authority surrounding the just war tradition. Authority is critical in two key senses. First, it is central to framing the ethical debate about the justice or injustice of war, raising questions about the universality of just war and the tradition's relationship to religion, law, and democracy. Second, who has the legitimate authority to make just-war claims and declare and prosecute war? Such authority has traditionally been located in the sovereign state, but non-state and supra-state claims to legitimate authority have become increasingly important over the last twenty years as the just war tradition has been used to think about multilateral military operations, terrorism, guerrilla warfare, and sub-state violence. The chapters in this collection, organized around these two dimensions, offer a compelling reassessment of the authority issue's centrality in how we can, do, and ought to think about war in contemporary global politics.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction: The Just War Tradition and the Practice of Political AuthorityAnthony F. Lang Jr. and Cian O'Driscoll Part I: The Practice of Authority 1. The Right to Use Armed Force: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the Common GoodJames Turner Johnson2. Just War and Political JudgmentChris Brown3. Natural Flourishing as the Normative Ground of Just War: A Christian ViewNigel Biggar4. "Not in My Name"? Legitimate Authority and Liberal Just War TheoryJohn Williams 5. The Inseparability of Gender Hierarchy, the Just War Tradition, and Authorizing WarLaura Sjoberg6. Legitimate Authority and the War against Al-QaedaNahed Artoul Zehr7. Problems of Legitimacy within the Just War Tradition and International LawTarik Kochi8. Narrative AuthorityAnthony F. Lang Jr. Part II: Authority in Practice 9. Culpability and Punishment in Classical Theories of Just WarGregory M. Reichberg10. The Necessity of "Right Intent" for Justifiably Waging WarJoseph Boyle11. Revenge, Affect, and Just WarBrent J. Steele12. Just War and Guerrilla WarMichael L. Gross13. Bugsplat: US Standing Rules of Engagement, International Humanitarian Law, Military Necessity, and Noncombatant ImmunityNeta C. Crawford6. Just War and Military Education and TrainingMartin L. Cook Part III: The Triumph of Just War?15. The Triumph of Just War Theory and Imperial OverstretchJohn Kelsay16. The Wager Lost by Winning? On the "Triumph" of the Just War TraditionNicholas Rengger Conclusion: Reclaiming the Just War Tradition for International Political TheoryCian O'Driscoll Contributors Index

About the Author :
Anthony F. Lang Jr. is a reader in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews and director of the Centre for Global Constitutionalism. Cian O'Driscoll is a lecturer in international politics at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. John Williams is a professor of international relations at Durham University.

Review :
One of the most intriguing goals of the volume is how it challenges what the post-Westphalian system did to the classical just war criteria of right authority... [We need] many diverse voices contributing to the just war tradition itself, which is something this collection ably provides. Journal of Church and State A unique contribution to the mass of just-war literature ... a book for the specialist and those well-versed in just war theory. -- Laurence M. Vance LewRockwell.com