Ethics and War: Beyond Just War Theory

Abstract

In this paper, Mervin Frost stresses the inherent historical link between war and ethics. He focuses mainly on the three different types of wars after the Second World War: national liberation wars, new wars, and the war against global terror. The main argument is that “making war” is an activity developed within a social practice that involves a remarkable level of activity for the actors taking part in it. Without any doubt, war therefore gains an ethical dimension. The author first explores these ethical elements between colonial rulers and colonial societies that seek an independent state. Secondly, there are ethical elements in “new wars”, where violence is used as a way to humiliate the enemy. And finally, in the context of global terrorism, that cannot be understood as “absurd” or empty of ethics.