War and International Justice

Brian Orend

Description

Can war ever be just? By what right do we charge people with war crimes? Can war itself be a crime? What is a good peace treaty?

Since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, many wars have erupted, inflaming such areas as the Persian Gulf, Central Africa and Central Europe. Brutalities committed during these conflicts have sparked new interest in the ethics of war and peace.

Brian Orend explores the ethics of war and peace from a Kantian perspective, emphasizing human rights protection, the rule of international law and a fully global concept of justice. Contending that Kant’s just war doctrine has not been given its due, Orend displays Kant’s theory to its fullest, impressive effect. He then completely and clearly updates Kant’s perspective for application to our time.

Along the way, he criticizes pacifism and realism, explores the nature of human rights protection during wartime, and defends a theory of just war. He also looks ahead to future developments in global institutional reform using cases from the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda to illustrate his argument.

Controversial and timely, perhaps the most important contribution War and International Justice: A Kantian Perspective makes is with regard to the question of justice after war. Orend offers a principled theory of war termination, making an urgent plea to reform current international law.

Sujets

• Philosophy
• Political science

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554587636
• Langue: English

Extrait

W AR AND I NTERNATIONAL J USTICE A K ANTIAN P ERSPECTIVE
B RIAN O REND
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Orend, Brian, 1971- War and international justice : a Kantian perspective
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-88920-337-7 (bound)
1. War-Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Just war doctrine. 3. Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804-Contributions in just war doctrine. I. Title.
U22.O73 2000 172 .42 C99-931118-2
Copyright 2000 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
Cover design by Leslie Macredie. Cover photo by Kurt Lange.
The author and publisher wish to acknowledge the following journals in which material from this book, in revised format, has appeared or is forthcoming: Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence for Kant on International Law and Armed Conflict (July 1998) and Terminating War and Establishing Global Governance (July 1999); Dialogue for Evaluating Pacifism (forthcoming, 2001); Journal of the History of Philosophy for Kant s Just War Theory (April 1999); Journal of Philosophical Research for A Just War Critique of Realism and Pacifism (forthcoming, winter 2000); Journal of Social Philosophy for Jus Post Bellum (forthcoming, spring 2000).
Printed in Canada All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical-without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping, or reproducing in information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to the Canadian Reprography Collective, 214 King Street West, Suite 312, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3S6.
To the three women in my life: my mother, Mary Lou; my sister, Krista; and my fianc , Jane
The concept of freedom...is the keystone of the whole architecture of the system of practical reason...
Immanuel Kant
Critique of Practical Reason
Rich or poor, I shall be free. I shall not be free in this or that land, in this or that region. I shall be free everywhere on earth.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Emile
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
PART ONE: KANT S JUST WAR THEORY
Chapter 1. Kant s Context
Introduction
Groundwork to Kant s Internationalism: The Core Principles of Kant s Practical Philosophy
Kant s General Conception of International Justice
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 2. Kant s Just War Theory
The Traditional Reading: No Just War
Neither Realism nor Pacifism
Traditional Just War Theory
The Principles of Kant s Just War Theory
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 3. Critical Evaluation of Kant s International Theory
General Criticisms of Some Core Claims
Criticisms of the International Theory of Justice
Criticisms of Kant s Just War Theory
Constitutive Elements of a Contemporary Kantian Internationalism
Contemporary Relevance
Conclusion
Notes
PART TWO: A CONTEMPORARY KANTIAN JUST WAR THEORY
Chapter 4. Contemporary Kantian Internationalism: Human Rights and Ideal Rules of International Law
Human Rights from a Kantian Point of View
International Justice in General
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 5. The Refutation of Realism and Pacifism
Realism
Pacifism
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 6. Jus ad Bellum
Groundwork
Just Cause
Right Intention
Proper Authority, Public Declaration and Domestic Rights Protection
No Precipitate Resort to Force
Probability of Success
(Macro-) Proportionality
Two Real-World Cases for Applying Jus ad Bellum
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 7. Jus post Bellum
The Status Quo of War Termination and Its Deficiencies
Particular Wars, Immediate Aftermaths
Summary of Jus post Bellum
One Real-World Application of Jus post Bellum: The Persian Gulf War
War in General: Long-term Structural Reform
Conclusion
Notes
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
I owe many people many thanks with regard to this work. First, to all those at WLU Press, especially Sandra Woolfrey and Carroll Klein, for making it a reality. Thanks also to the Aid to Scholarly Publications Program of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada for a subvention and for some very helpful anonymous reviews.
This work has its origins in my doctoral dissertation, defended one stressful morning in December 1997 at Columbia University in New York City. I would like to thank Columbia s Philosophy Department for the fantastic fellowship offer to study in that magical city, as well as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for additional fellowship funding.
Particular thanks is due to the brilliant yet merciless members of my dissertation committee: Thomas Pogge; Bonnie Kent; Frances Kamm; David C. Johnston; and Jeremy Waldron. Special thanks to David for the C.C. experience; to Bonnie for pushing me; and to Thomas, not only for showing me what political philosophy can be but for being the best of all possible mentors, and a friend.
A warm thank you must also be given to all my colleagues at the University of Waterloo. Not only have they provided me a friendly work atmosphere, many of them were formerly my professors: Bill Abbott; Jenny Ashworth; Andrew Cooper; Terry Downey; Rolf George; Geoffrey Hayes; Brian Hendley; Richard Holmes; Karin MacHardy; Jan Narveson; Joe Novak; Jim Van Evra; and Judy Wubnig. I must single out John English and thank him so much for all the friendship and opportunity he has given me over the years. Thanks also to Kurt Lange for permission to use the cover photograph.
Many people have read this work prior to publication. Their comments have always been provocative and critical, yet generous and constructive. I am indebted to them all; no writer gets anywhere without being scrutinized in this way. Most gratifying, perhaps, was their shared conviction of the importance and relevance of the subject matter, and thus on the need for serious reflection on the latest problems concerning warfare and the pursuit of international justice.
List of Abbreviations
In this work, I use a number of abbreviations in order to avoid repeating cumbersome phrases. They are defined thoroughly within the body of the text.
CI = Categorical Imperative
CP = Consequentialist form of Pacifism
DDE = Doctrine of Double Effect
DP = Deontological form of Pacifism
DR = Descriptive Realism
FPJ = Formal Principle of Justice (part of UPJ)
GA = General Assembly (of the UN)
ICJ = International Court of Justice (of the UN)
JAB = Jus ad Bellum (the justice of resorting to war)
JIB = Jus in Bello (the justice of conduct in war)
JPB = Jus post Bellum (justice after war)
JWT = Just War Theory
KI = Kantian Internationalism
KJWT = Kant s Just War Theory
MJ = Minimal Justice (criteria states must meet)
MPJ = Material Principle of Justice (part of UPJ)
MPR = Moral Prescriptive Realism (a kind of PR)
NP = Normative Principle regarding aggression
PMF = Permanent Military Force
PPR = Prudential Prescriptive Realism (a kind of PR)
PR = Prescriptive Realism
SC = Security Council (of the UN)
SD = State Duty
SDR = Strong Descriptive Realism (a kind of DR)
SFPJ = State-level Formal Principle of Justice (part of SUPJ)
SMPJ = State-level Material Principle of Justice (part of SUPJ)
SMPR = Strong Moral Prescriptive Realism (a kind of MPR)
SPPR = Strong Prudential Prescriptive Realism (a kind of PPR)
SR = State Right
SUPJ = State-level Universal Principle of Justice
UDHR = Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UN = United Nations
UPJ = Universal Principle of Justice
WDR = Weak Descriptive Realism (a kind of DR)
WMPR = Weak Moral Prescriptive Realism (a kind of MPR)
WPPR = Weak Prudential Prescriptive Realism (a kind of PPR)
Introduction
Image: Through a lens that casts an eerie blue glow, one can make out a nondescript building. Simultaneously, it is in the middle of two things: a desert and the cross hairs of a jet pilot s scope. Seconds later, a streak from the side of the screen slams into the building, which erupts in an explosive cloud of dust.
Image: An enclosed marketplace on a Saturday morning in an atmospheric Central European town. People haggle over the price of vegetables. Seconds later, the camera gets slammed into the ground, causing the picture to cut out, and then reappear. The scene shifts: the missile has hit the market dead-on. Instead of haggling, there is screaming. Bright red blood drenches everything. Bodies have been blown apart. Survivors reach up in shocked desperation towards the camera.
Image: A central African village, surrounded by heat and lush foliage. A crowd of agitated villagers is chasing after something: it must be that handful of people at the bottom of the screen. Soon, the smaller group is surrounded by the villagers. The smaller group huddles together, backs touching, facing outwards, saying something very rapidly. Hands raise up. Knives, meat cleavers and machetes come down, hacking into forearms raised up in defe