Within the realm of social contract theory, citizens within a given state consent, either tacitly or explicitly, to surrender various rights and freedoms to the authority of the state. In return, the state guarantees protection of citizen's rights and freedoms. The state also guarantees citizen's protection from external aggression and preservation of national security in return for citizens' sacrifice of certain rights. Citing national security protocol, safeguarding civilian life and forestall another terrorist strike in the wake of 9 / 11, Jean Bethke Elshtain wrote that the fight against terrorism waged by the Bush regime against the Middle Eastern perpetrators and their allies qualifies as just war. While the claim that waging retaliatory war deterred recurrence is a reasonable one, the manner in which the U.S. went about it defied the Jus in bello principle of just war. The inhumane treatment of suspected terrorist in the Guantanamo Bay and the violation of human rights were repugnant with the Jus in bello principle of fair treatment of prisoners of war (O'Donovan 67).
Conclusion
As debate on pacifism and just war rages on, attempts to strike a compromise between the two seem to hit a stalemate every time a solution is in the offing. Nothing seems to change; since time immemorial, nations, communities and religions have continually waged...
War has thus become a time honored political tradition, and perhaps the oldest since it stretches back to Biblical times. It is reasonable to argue that war is still war, whether it is just or unjust; the outcome is the same: mass murders, forcible displacements and other inhuman acts. And as pacifists reckon 'fighting for peace' is nothing but a paradox that justifies war. While pacifism is a noble ideal based on humanitarian considerations, it is very unrealistic as discussed earlier; chaos and conflict are in the center stage of the global political economy owing to the pursuit of selfish interests.
Works Cited
Benson, Richard. The Just War Theory: A Traditional Catholic Moral View, New York: The Tidings 2006.
Butler, Paul. By Any Means Necessary: Using Violence and Subversion to Change Unjust Law 50. UCLA L. Rev. 2003 p. 721
Cortright, David. Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Elshtain, Jean Bethke Just War against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World New York: Basic Books, 2004
Evans, Mark. Just War Theory: A Reappraisal Edinburgh University Press, 2005
O'Donovan, Oliver. The Just War Revisited Cambridge: Cambridge University…
