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The Ethics of War Ariel Colonomos Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 Année universitaire 2013/2014 Collège universitaire Semestre de printemps – Spring semester The Ethics of War Ariel Colonomos Sciences Po Collège universitaire Friday 10.15 am – 12.15 pm THE ETHICS OF WAR Ariel Colonomos (CNRS-CERI) http://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/en/users/arielcolonomos This course will discuss one very traditional and classical issue for international relations - the ethics of war - in a field where there have recently been numerous and substantial developments. It will exemplify the role of norms in warfare and discuss the major dilemmas that face those armies committed to following the basic codes of war. Its focus is mainly interdisciplinary. It will bring examples from history, explain certain phenomena – such as why states go or do not go to war and how they fight – from a political science perspective and ultimately will discuss legally and morally the coherence of certain rationales that aim at justifying the use of force. The purpose of this course is to bring to light among the major issues Western democracies are confronted to in international politics and one of the major political, moral and legal questions sovereigns, military forces, lawyers and ethicists have to face: authorize the use of force and therefore authorize killing. This course aims at giving the students the tools they need to build their own normative argument. Participation 1 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 will therefore be encouraged and I will leave a Q & A time period at the end of each session. Readings are found on Google Sciences Po’s website unless they are already accessible electronically through the library website: https://drive.google.com/a/sciencespo.fr/folderview?id=0B6oDO3aBsLteNHdjYm5FNGhFSkU&usp=sh aring.1 Videos – documentaries, fictions – will be shown as illustrations during some of the classes. Course requirements ‐ A mid-term paper based on the reading and the discussion of three texts chosen from the syllabus: 50% of the grade, approx. 1000-1500 words (5 pages). Due on Thursday March 13th (paper version format, to be deposited in my mailbox, 28, rue des Saints Pères). You’ll also have to send your paper electronically both my teaching assistant, Marine Guillaume, and myself. ‐ A final written exam: 50% of the grade, you will have to answer to four basic questions related to some of the core notions discussed during the semester. Teaching assistant: Marine Guillaume Marine Guillaume’s email: [email protected] Session 1 Why war? Friday January 24th Humanity and war Why do armies fight? What kind of wars? What is total war? The different modes of explanation (anthropology, sociology, economics) The security dilemma Is there a way out? Realism vs. idealism Azar Gat, War in Human Civilization, Oxford University Press, 2006, See Part I “Warfare in the First Two Million Years: Environment, Genes and Culture”, Chapter 5 “Motivation: the Web of Desire”, p.87-113 Sigmund Freud, “Why War?”, available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8267730/Why-War-Sigmund- Freud Hans Morgenthau, Politics among Nations, McGraw Hill, 1993 (1st ed.1948). See “Chapter 3 Political power”, p.29-49 Bronislaw Malinowski, "An Anthropological Analysis of War", American Journal of Sociology, vol. 46, no. 4, 1 You must be registered as a Sciences Po user to access this site. 2 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 Jan. 1941, p.521-550 Jack Levy, "War and Peace", in Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A. Simmons (eds.), The Handbook of International Relations, Sage, 2002. p. 350-369 Session 2: Why ethics? Friday January 31st Wanton destruction? Can warriors show restraint? Do they? To what extent? Natural ethics? A process of civilization Democracies and war Can war be “humanized”? The rules of war and their purposes The fog of war in ‘asymmetrical warfare’ The ‘fog of norms’ Ward Thomas, The Ethics of Destruction Norms and Force in International Relations, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2002: “Chapter I Ethics, Norms and the Study of International Relations”, p.1-26 Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process, Vol. II. State Formation and Civilization, Blackwell, 1982, Chapter 1, p.229-251 Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, Basic Books, 1977. See “Chapter 3 The Rules of War”, p.34-47 Session 3: The cultural and religious roots of war ethics Friday February 7th Nature / culture The cultural and religious foundations of the justification of the use of force Judaism Islam “Stoic Warriors?” Islam Liberal societies and risk aversion Why is the role of Christianity foundational in the ethics of war? Michael Walzer, “Chapter 10 Commanded and Permitted Wars”, in M. Walzer (ed.), Law, Politics and Morality in Judaism, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2006 and “Chapter 11 Prohibited Wars”. 3 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 John Kelsay, Arguing the Just War in Islam, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2007, Chapter 2, p.41-96 Session 4: The just war tradition: jus ad bellum Friday February 14th Jus ad bellum What is self-defense? St Thomas Aquinas: http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3040.htm The UN Charter: http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/ Richard Norman, Ethics, Killing and War, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995. See “Chapter IV Killing in self-defense”, p.117-158 Session 5: The just war tradition: jus in bello Friday February 21st Jus in bello International Humanitarian Law – the Geneva Conventions Inhumane killing: chemical weapons, landmines, cluster bombs and the like The Doctrine of Double Effect Measuring “unnecessary suffering” Firing procedures http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/double-effect/ Judith Gardam, Necessity, Proportionality and the Use of Force by States, Cambridge University Press, 2004. See “Chapter 1 The Place of Necessity and Proportionality in Restraints on the Forceful Actions of States”, p.1- 27 American Rules of Engagement (ROE) in Iraq. See and check in Legal Lessons Learned from Afghanistan and Iraq, Vol. 1, Center for Law and Military Operations The Judge Advocate General Legal Center and School United States Army Charlottesville, Virginia. Available at https://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/clamo- v1.pdf International Committee of the Red Cross: http://www.icrc.org/ Viewing: video document ICRC 4 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 BREAK Session 6: The ethics of humanitarian intervention and beyond Friday March 7th Who is saving whom? Morality and legality “Caring” for the other? Martha Finnemore, “Chapter 5 Constructing Norms of Humanitarian Intervention”, in Peter J. Katzenstein (ed.), The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, New York, Columbia University Press, Available on CIAO (follow: books, Columbia University Press), http://bibliotheque.sciences- po.fr/fr/rechercher/bdd/index.html Tom Farer, “Humanitarian Intervention before and after 9/11: Legality and Legitimacy”, in J.L. Holzgrefe and Robert Keohane (eds.), Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p.53-89 Session 7: Justifying preventive war? Friday March 14th The Just War Tradition and preventive wars What is “just fear”? Preemption and prevention Allan Buchanan, Robert Keohane, “The Preventive Use of Force: a Cosmopolitan Institutional Perspective”, Ethics and International Affairs, vol. 18 n. 1, winter 2004, p.1-22. Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, See “Chapter 5 Anticipations”, p.74-85 Viewing: Minority Report (Spielberg) Session 8: Targeted killings and drone warfare Friday March 21st 5 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 Israeli policy and US strikes Targeted killings / political assassinations A license to kill? Preventive or punitive? Illegal, immoral? Steven David, “Israel’s Policy of Targeted Killing”, Ethics and International Affairs, 2003, vol. 17, n.1, p.111- 126 Expert Opinion, Professor Antonio Cassese: “On Whether Israel’s Targeted Killings of Palestinian Terrorists is Consonant with International Humanitarian Law”, http://www.stoptorture.org.il/files/cassese.pdf Claire Finkelstein, Jens Ohlin, Andrew Altman, Andrew (eds.), Targeted Killings Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, chapters 6 and 11 Viewing: Munich (Spielberg) Session 9: Prisoners of War Friday March 28th (To be rescheduled) Establishing a fair treatment of P.O.W. Reciprocity Torture On prisoners, hostages and slaves Trusting your enemy? The exchange of prisoners http://www.genevaconventions.org http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/protected-persons/prisoners-war/ Niall Ferguson, “Prisoner Taking and Prisoner Killing in the Age of Total War: Towards a Political Economy of Military Defeat”, War in History, 2004 11 (2), p.148–192 Michael Ignatieff, “Democracy and the Lesser Evil”, in The Lesser Evil Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2004, Chapter 2 Viewing: Homeland (HBO, Season 1) – The Black Mirror (BBC, Episode 1, The National Anthem) Session 10: The ethics of intelligence Friday April 4th 6 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 On ruse and treachery The ethics of spying Informants for what? The costs of intelligence The epistemic foundations of the justification of the use of force Gentili, “Chapter 6 On Poison”, Three Books of Law and Peace (1612) Tony Pfaff, Jeffrey Tiel, “The Ethics of Espionnage”, The Journal of Military Ethics, 2004, 3, 1, p.1-15 Session 11: Reparations Friday April 11th Post-bellum Vae victis? Versailles Jus post-bellum Putting a tag on human lives Assessing suffering: the role of lawyers and historians Reparations for historical injustices Gary Bass, “Jus post-bellum”, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Autumn 2004, issue 4, p.384-412 Niall Ferguson, The Pity of war. London, Penguin, 1999. On Versailles reparations: “How (not) to pay for the war”, p.395-432 John Torpey, “Making Whole What Has Been Smashed - Reflection on Reparations”, Journal of Modern History, 73 (2), June 2001, p.333-358 Session 12: Friday April 18th FINAL Exam 7 Colonomos The Ethics of War Spring 2014 Indicative Bibliography2: Chris Brown, “Universal Human Rights: A Critique”, in Tim Dunne and N.
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