' ( or in the

traditional English pronunciation of Latin The traditional English pronunciation of Latin, and Classical Greek words borrowed through Latin, is the way the Latin language was traditionally pronounced by speakers of English until the early 20th century. In the Middle Ages speakers of Eng ...

;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "right to war") is a set of criteria that are to be consulted ''before'' engaging in

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

in order to determine whether entering into war is permissible, that is, whether it will be a

just war The just war theory ( la, bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war i ...

. This is distinct from the set of rules that ought to be followed ''during'' a war, known as ''

jus in bello The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war ('' jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territ ...

''.

Definition

' is sometimes considered a part of the

laws of war The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war ('' jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territ ...

, but the term "laws of war" can also be considered to refer to ''

'', which concerns whether a war is conducted justly (regardless of whether the initiation of hostilities was just). "''Jus ad bellum'' refers to the conditions under which States may resort to war or to the use of armed force in general." These rules focus on certain criteria for what makes a war just. Article 51 of the

UN Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: th ...

clarifies: "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

." An international agreement limiting the justifiable reasons for a country to declare war against another is concerned with ''jus ad bellum.'' In addition to bilateral non-aggression pacts, the twentieth century saw multilateral treaties defining entirely new restrictions against going to war. The three most notable examples are the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war as an instrument of national policy, the

London Charter The Charter of the International Military Tribunal – Annex to the Agreement for the prosecution and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis (usually referred to as the Nuremberg Charter or London Charter) was the decree issue ...

(known also as the Nuremberg Charter) defining "

crimes against peace A crime of aggression or crime against peace is the planning, initiation, or execution of a large-scale and serious act of aggression using state military force. The definition and scope of the crime is controversial. The Rome Statute contains an ...

" as one of three major categories of international crime to be prosecuted after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its Organ ...

, which binds nations to seek resolution of disputes by peaceful means and requires authorization by the

before a nation may initiate any use of force against another, beyond the inherent right of

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

against an armed attack. By contrast, agreements defining limits on acceptable conduct while already engaged in war are considered "rules of war" and are referred to as the ''jus in bello.'' Thus, the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conv ...

are a set of ''"jus in bello".'' Doctrines concerning the protection of

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...

in wartime, or the need for " proportionality" when force is used, are addressed to issues of conduct within a war, but the same doctrines can also shed light on the question of when it is lawful (or unlawful) to go to war in the first place.

Principles

Proper authority and public declaration

The principle of right authority suggests that a war is just only if waged by a legitimate authority. Such authority is rooted in the notion of state sovereignty.Don Hubert and Thomas G. Weiss et al. "The Responsibility to Protect: Supplementary Volume to the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty". (Canada: International Development Research Centre, 2001) In his ''

Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...

St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...

notes that to be a just war, war has not only to be declared publicly, but also must be declared by the proper authority. Proper authority is what differentiates war from murder: "It is the rules of warfare that give the practice meaning, that distinguish war from murder and soldiers from criminals". A soldier is treated as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

and not a criminal because they are operating under the proper authority of the state and cannot be held individually responsible for actions committed under the orders of their military leadership.

Just cause

According to the principle of right intention, the aim of war must not be to pursue narrowly defined national interests, but rather to re-establish a just peace. This state of peace should be preferable to the conditions that would have prevailed had the war not occurred. Wars cannot be fought simply to annex property or install a regime change. Current doctrines of "anticipatory self-defense" or preemptive strikes, sometimes associated with the

Bush Doctrine The Bush Doctrine refers to multiple interrelated foreign policy principles of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. These principles include unilateralism, preemptive war, and regime change. Charles Krauthammer first used ...

, have challenged concepts of right intention/just cause. Right cause includes humanitarian intervention, particularly when actions "

shock the conscience Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...

". The

responsibility to protect The Responsibility to Protect (R2P or RtoP) is a global political commitment which was endorsed by all member states of the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit in order to address its four key concerns to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic ...

covers more in depth the nature of humanitarian intervention.

Probability of success

According to this principle, there must be good grounds for concluding that aims of the just war are achievable. This principle emphasizes that mass violence must not be undertaken if it is unlikely to secure the just cause. This criterion is to avoid invasion for invasion's sake and links to the proportionality criteria. One cannot invade if there is no chance of actually winning. However, wars are fought with imperfect knowledge, so one must simply be able to make a logical case that one can win; there is no way to know this in advance. These criteria move the conversation from moral and theoretical grounds to practical grounds. Essentially, this is meant to gather coalition building and win approval of other state actors.

Last resort

The principle of last resort stipulates that all non-violent options must first be exhausted before the use of force can be justified. Diplomatic options, sanctions, and other non-military methods must be attempted or validly ruled out before the engagement of hostilities. Further, in regard to the amount of harm—proportionally—the principle of last resort would support using small intervention forces first and then escalating rather than starting a war with massive force such as

carpet bombing Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large area bombardment done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in th ...

nuclear warfare Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear ...

History

St. Thomas Aquinas is one of the earliest philosophers on what makes a just war. His list of criteria were intended to protect civilians and guarantee that wars were not just fought for the interest of private parties. After the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pe ...

, which ended the Thirty Years' War, scholars became concerned with finding a way to control interstate war while respecting state sovereignty. It wasn’t until the formation of the United Nations after World War II that notions of jus ad bellum were formalized.

The modern era

Since the 1950s, declarations of jus ad bellum have dropped dramatically. In "Why States No Longer Declare War" Tanisha Fazal notes the drop in formal declarations of war since the 1950s. This may be as a result of the nuance of war in modern times, given the rise of non-state actors such as terrorist groups.

References

External links

War & Law

Crimes of War

Characteristics Of Intractable Conflicts

* Joseph R. Cerami, James F. Holcomb (Editors).
U.S. Army War College guide to strategy
'. Strategic Studies Institute, 2001. ., pp. 19–30.
Chapter 3. Ethical issues in War, An overview
', Cook, Martin L.
Stanford encyclopedia entry for war
* Brander, Kenneth Rabbi. "Is All Fair in Love & War?" Just & Unjust Wars through the prism of Jewish and Secular Thought"
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jus Ad Bellum Just war theory Latin legal terminology