[DOWNLOAD] "Moral Responsibilities and the Conflicting Demands of Jus Post Bellum (Postwar JUSTICE AND THE RESPONSIBILITY TO Rebuild) (Essay)" by Ethics & International Affairs ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Moral Responsibilities and the Conflicting Demands of Jus Post Bellum (Postwar JUSTICE AND THE RESPONSIBILITY TO Rebuild) (Essay)
- Author : Ethics & International Affairs
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 310 KB
Description
When a violent conflict ends, the question of what should be done next is often extremely difficult to answer comprehensively. Several oral theories aspire to help people think and act reasonably and constructively in such circumstances, guiding them toward the formulation of potential ways forward by identifying, clarifying, and perhaps ordering the issues at stake, and undertaking a principled consideration of the possible practical consequences of these formulations. In this article, I consider how one body of moral theorizing in particular--just war theory--may be equipped to contribute to the morality of postconflict reconstruction. In the first instance, of course, just war theory's objectives are to restrain the resort to war and/or the ways in which it is conducted. Recently, however, some thinkers have argued that we should expect more of the theory, namely, that it should also furnish us with guidelines on how to end a war and--of prime relevance to the present analysis--on how its aftermath should be handled: that is, an account of jus post bellum to supplement the venerable prescriptions of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. In particular, I argue that a morality of postconflict reconstruction, which it is in part the purpose of jus post bellum to posit, can contribute to just war theory in the following ways. (I think it could also help to frame what should be done after an unjustified war, but I leave that possibility aside from my discussion. (1)) First, it can inform the original justification for going to war. For example, if just combatants can be said to have responsibilities with respect to postwar reconstruction, a willingness and ability to shoulder them at the outset may be more or less decisive with respect to the war's permissibility in the first place. Second, the question of which tactics are justified in the conduct of a just war is surely answered in part with some reference to the subsequent ability of just combatants to discharge, where possible, their reconstruction responsibilities appropriately and effectively.