Is Just War Theory Still Relevant? - First Things

Is Just War Theory Still Relevant? - First Things

Conflict in the Middle East brings fundamental questions about just war into the public debate. Yet the use of just war may itself need justification given the evolution of the nation-state and its contemporary means of warfare. Can an ethic developed in the era of empires and overlapping political authorities—a pre-industrial ethic of war fought mainly with swords, spears, and horses—survive the post-industrial age of national sovereignty, prec…