Just Wars: From Cicero to Iraq

In what circumstances is it legitimate to use force? How should force be used? These are two of the most crucial questions confronting world politics today.

The Just War tradition provides a set of criteria which political leaders and soldiers use to defend and rationalize war. This book explores the evolution of thinking about just wars and examines its role in shaping contemporary judgements about the use of force, from grand strategic issues of whether states have a right to pre-emptive
self-defence, to the minutiae of targeting.

Bellamy maps the evolution of the Just War tradition, demonstrating how it arose from a myriad of sub-traditions, including scholasticism, the holy war tradition, chivalry, natural law, positive law, Erasmus and Kant's reformism, and realism from Machiavelli to Morgenthau. He then applies this tradition to a range of contemporary normative dilemmas related to terrorism, pre-emption, aerial bombardment and humanitarian intervention.

Author: Alex J. Bellamy
Publisher: Polity Press
Published: 11/10/2006
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.04w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780745632834

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2007 pg. 2

About the Author
Alex Bellamy is Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Queensland.

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