Ethics and the use of force : just war in historical perspective / by James Turner Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, James Turner.

Series:

Justice, international law and global security

Justice, international law, and global security

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Just war doctrine--History.

Just war doctrine.

War--Religious aspects--Christianity--History.

War.

War--Religious aspects--Christianity.

History.

Physical Description:

vi, 174 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, [2011]

Summary:

Johnson (Rutgers U.) examines how just war ideas are used in contemporary debates over morality and the use of force, comparing contemporary understandings of just war to the historical just war traditions from which they have emerged (and diverged). He first looks at the religious roots of the just war tradition and Islamic thinking about jihad of the sword for what they reveal about contemporary use of just war and jihad concepts. He then turns to just war alone, discussing the interaction between just war thinking and international law on armed conflict, on the one hand, and political realism, on the other. Finally, he addresses contemporary issues within just war thinking: the idea that only defense justifies the use of armed force, the erosion of efforts at restraint within the context of contemporary armed conflict, and the question of the relation between the use of armed force and the pursuit of peace. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

The just war idea in historical tradition and current debate

Just war : breaking the tradition

Just war and Jihad : two traditions on the use of force

Tracing the contours of the Jihad of individual duty in Islamic juristic tradition

Grotius' use of history and charity in the modern transformation of the just war idea

Looking back as a way of going forward : just war tradition and international law

Moral judgment in international affairs : the limits of realism

Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian relism and the idea of just war

The idea of defense in historical and contemporary thinking about just war

Contemporary warfare and the challenge to efforts at restraint

The use of armed force and the goal of peace.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-171) and index.

ISBN:

9781409418573

140941857X

9781409418580

1409418588

OCLC:

701327248