War termination and the just war tradition : "the ethics of the end game"

Abstract

Since the time of St. Augustine, philosophers have attempted to outline conditions that make warfare just.  This just war tradition has conventionally been divided into two categories: jus ad bellum stating what makes it right to go to war and jus in bello which explains what is right to do in war.  The focus of this thesis is to investigate the controversial development of a third category: jus post bellum.

This thesis demonstrates that war termination has not been totally neglected by classic just war texts.  This research in itself contributes to the knowledge in the discipline as most current philosophers explain that jus post bellum is a forgotten aspect in just war thinking.  By drawing upon these historical resources, building on contemporary thought, and by expanding upon the standard just war doctrine, this thesis generates a comprehensive set of jus post bellum principles, including a section on ‘Cultural Change’ which opposes recent literature.  This thesis also stresses the need for jus post bellum principles to relate to a variety of types of conflict, or ‘backdrops’, and will apply these norms to cases of humanitarian interventions as well as inter-state wars.

Moreover, this thesis defends the development of jus post bellum against potential critics; whether they emerge from inside the just war tradition or from outside it.  This thesis then engages with the pressing issue as to how such principles should be used in practice.  This chapter illustrates the difficulties of using these principles in an absolute manner and will, instead, show how they can best be employed in a flexible way as a guide to action.  The final chapter addresses ethical issues surrounding regime change.

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