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| The Price of Peace: Just War in the Twenty-First Century | 
 enlarge | Creators: Richard Dannatt, Charles Reed, David Ryall
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $9.98
You Save: $20.01 (67%)
New (18) Used (10) from $4.07
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 970337
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 358
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0521677858
Dewey Decimal Number: 172.42
EAN: 9780521677851
ASIN: 0521677858
Publication Date: March 12, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships next business day from NY
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Product Description
Lively political and public debates on war and morality have been a feature of the post-Cold War world. The Price of Peace argues that a re-examination of the just war tradition is therefore required. The authors suggest that despite fluctuations and transformations in international politics, the just war tradition continues to be relevant. However they argue that it needs to be reworked to respond to the new challenges to international security represented by the end of the Cold War and the impact of terrorism. With an interdisciplinary and transatlantic approach, this volume provides a dialogue between theological, political, military and public actors. By articulating what a reconstituted just war tradition might mean in practice, it also aims to assist policy-makers and citizens in dealing with the ethical dilemmas of war.
Book Description
Leading experts from academia, the military, law and the Church discuss the ethical implications of the changing nature of warfare in the twenty-first century. This book offers an investigation and renewal of the Just War tradition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Just and Unjust Wars November 4, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a book of American and British essays, several by clergymen, about what constitutes a "just war." Traditionally, the seven principles of a just war are: just cause, proper authority, right intention, a reasonable chance of success, war as a last resort, discrimination between combatants and civilians, and propoptionality in the use of force.
The problem is, of course, that writers interpret these principles differently and the whole exercise becomes less than illuminating -- similar to those learned debates about constitutional law in which our most august body, the Supreme Court, decides morality and legal correctness by a vote of 5 to 4, hardly an overwhelming expression of moral unanimity. This is by way of saying that I didn't find this book all that useful in trying to enhance my comprehension as to how one might go about determining the difference between just and unjust wars.
Still, some of the essays were interesting and I got a bit of the flavor of the gaps between Europeans and Americans on what constitutes a "just war." All together, eighteen chapters explore the subject. Perhaps the most provocative statement is Chapter 14, page 266 in which the writer says that "if it is not possible to distinguish civilians from combatants....the war should not even be fought...The war cannot be won and it should not be won. It cannot be won because the only available strategy involves a war against civilians...the civilian support that rules out alternative strategies also makes the guerillas the legitimate rulers of the country." Now, that's a thought worthy of contemplation. If the majority of the population of a country -- Iraq comes to mind -- is opposed to a war, is that war by definition "unjust?"
The interesting questions, the scholars struggling to define just war, and the wide variety of opinions about what constitutes a "just war" make this book worth reading.
Smallchief
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