THE ETHICS OF WAR
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How can soldiers have a right to kill? Must civilians always be protected? Are pre-emptive strikes permissible? Can it be right to go to war without the approval of the UN? Can we go to war against terrorism?
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For philosophers and political theorists, the ethics of war has enjoyed renewed academic interest internationally, both as a response to an increase in humanitarian interventions and peace-keeping and peace-enforcing operations, and as a consequence of 9/11 and the “War on Terror”. The topic had not been paid much attention since the Vietnam War ended and Michael Walzer’s famous book Just and Unjust Wars was published in the mid-70s. Over the last decade, however, the classical just war tradition from Augustine to Walzer has had a renaissance, and in particular Walzer’s book has been subjected to much critical commentaries and challenged by alternative perspectives and by the fact that the character of war is rapidly changing.
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The course will have a contemporary perspective and emphasise novel dilemmas and current debates, but also draw some lines from the tradition, international law and the persistent, universal problems of the ethics of war. In addition to Walzer’s book, the course will be based on articles (by, amongst others, Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, Robert Goodin, Cheyney Ryan, David Luban, Suzanne Uniacke, Elizabeth Anscombe, David Rodin, Jeff McMahan, James Turner Johnson, Arne Johan Vetlesen, Richard Wasserstrom.)
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A central question in the current debate relates to the moral responsibility of soldiers, both for and in the wars they fight. The question is manifold, and concerns justifications for the rules of war (jus in bello), such as the normative foundations for the right to kill, impunity for participation in war, the immunity of civilians and prisoners of war; as well as ethical and political aspects of conscription and conscientious objection, rights and obligations in the relationship between state and individual, and so on.
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Another cluster of important questions regard the jus ad bellum (the right to go to war); what kinds of wars and interventions, if any, can be justified, and how? What is the normative status of humanitarian interventions, pre-emptive and preventive wars, and forcible democratisation, compared to the traditional notion of defensive war and the principle of non-intervention? Should terrorism be classified as war or crime? Which conditions must obtain for the use of military force to be legitimate? What is the legitimate and legitimising role of the UN?
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The aim of the course is partly to introduce central concepts and provide a normative and theoretical framework for addressing the relevant questions, partly to give an introduction to the arguments of ongoing debates, and not least to discuss some difficult normative problems and dilemmas of war.
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The course lasts for 12 weeks. Course language: English.
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