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CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DAREN BOWYER JUST WAR DOCTRINE: RELEVANCE AND CHALLENGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY DEFENCE COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY PhD THESIS CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DEFENCE COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED SCIENCE, SECURITY AND RESILIENCE PhD THESIS Academic Year 2003-2008 Daren Bowyer Just War Doctrine: Relevance and Challenges in the 21st Century Supervisor: Professor E R Holmes CBE JP March 2008 Crown Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT For nearly two millennia just war doctrine has been central to Western understanding of justified resort to armed force, and of conduct in war. As the international system developed so the theory was first secularised and then all but rendered obsolete by a legal paradigm that sought first to establish states‘ rights and, later, to eliminate armed force as an instrument of international policy altogether. In the world order that has emerged after the Cold War, the legal paradigm has been found wanting. Just war doctrine is thus of renewed relevance as there remains a requirement for resort to force to be justified and for its conduct to be restrained. Contemporary security threats and a changed value-set have made Western governments more interventionist and concern over non-state actors, mass-destructive weaponry and the threats emerging from state failure have prompted some to argue a case for preventive war. Whilst a strictly legalist approach has proved unsatisfactory, just war doctrine offers a robust framework for debate in guiding our thinking about both intervention and pre-emptive self-defence. There are challenges to our traditional understanding of jus in bello presented both by Western technological dominance and by the preference for a different form of asymmetry on the part of the West‘s opponents. This is exacerbated by the appearance on the battlefield of a range of new actors. However, a thorough understanding of the moral principles underpinning our codes of conduct will offer a valuable – if not essential – tool not only to decision makers and commanders but to the individual fighting men and women who must make life and death decisions in the most demanding circumstances of the complex modern battlefield. i ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A part-time PhD is not an undertaking that can be lightly made, nor can it be successful without the support of the student‘s family and colleagues. Certainly I should not have been able to complete this study without forbearance and sacrifice on the part of my family for which I am hugely grateful. My colleagues and those for whom I have worked during the time I have pursued this study are also to be thanked for their support and encouragement. In particular, it could not have happened without Brigadier Jim Campbell, then Director of Studies at the Royal Military College of Science, and Colonel (now Brigadier) David Allfrey, then Assistant Director and for whom I worked directly when this project was started. Not only did they acquiesce in this additional call on my time but also they were enthusiastic in their encouragement and support. No study of this length is conducted in isolation and I must here acknowledge the many colleagues, both military and academic, discussion with whom has helped shape the views here expressed. I am also indebted to the very professional and dedicated staff of the Cranfield University (Shrivenham Campus) library, especially Lynn Seddon and her team, and to the excellent if somewhat under-sung team at the Prince Consort‘s Library in Aldershot. The team there that runs the Military Studies Library Service list of journal and press articles provided an invaluable resource. My Supervisor, Richard Holmes, has been a wonderful source not only of advice and guidance but also of enthusiasm. His encyclopaedic knowledge has pointed me in the direction of important source material that I may otherwise have overlooked, his eye for detail has picked up my lapses in grammar and logic (though for any that remain, I alone am responsible), and his irrepressible enthusiasm for everything he undertakes has kept me focussed when my energy has flagged. Finally, I dedicate this work to all those who have given their lives fighting justly in causes they have believed just. iii iv CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………... i Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………… iii Contents ………………………………………………………………………………... v List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………. vi List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………..... vii List of Video Clips ........................................................................................................ vii Glossary of Acronyms ……………………………………………………………….... ix INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1 : JUST WAR IN CONTEXT..................................................................... 5 1.1 Conceptual Framework........................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 Realism ............................................................................................................ 6 1.1.2 Liberalism. ..................................................................................................... 16 1.1.3 International Society ...................................................................................... 28 1.1.4 Other Perspectives ......................................................................................... 36 1.1.5 A Conceptual Place for Ethics ....................................................................... 40 1.2 Historical Context: The Origins and Development of Just War Doctrine ............ 47 1.2.1 The Early Church and the Conversion of Rome ............................................ 48 1.2.2 Aquinas and Development of the Theological Doctrine ............................... 50 1.2.3 Secularization and Early International Law .................................................. 53 1.2.4 Establishing the Legalist Paradigm: From The League of Nations and the Pact of Paris to the UN Charter Era ........................................................................ 58 1.3 Summary ............................................................................................................... 61 CHAPTER 2 : THE REQUIREMENT FOR ETHICAL JUSTIFICATION ................ 69 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 69 2.2 Why a Return to Ethics: The Legalist Paradigm Challenged ............................... 70 2.2.1 The Legalist Paradigm Examined ................................................................. 70 2.2.2 Structural Difficulties .................................................................................... 77 2.2.3 Practical Failings ........................................................................................... 85 2.2.3.1 Failure to Institute the Envisioned Mechanism for Enforcement .... 86 2.2.3.2 Widespread Disregard for Article 2(4) in Fact . ................................ 91 2.2.3.3 Lack of Faith in Institutions for Non-Forceful Settlement of Disputes ............................................................................................................................ 93 2.2.4 Reordering the Value Set: New World Order and Continued Failing of the Paradigm ................................................................................................................. 99 2.3 Why Justification? .............................................................................................. 104 2.3.1 Relevance at the International Level ........................................................... 106 2.3.2 Relevance at the National Level .................................................................. 123 2.3.3 Relevance at the Individual Level ............................................................... 138 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................. 154 CHAPTER 3 : FUTURE CONFLICT AND ISSUES OF JUS AD BELLUM ............ 167 3.1 Introductory Comments ...................................................................................... 167 3.2 Future War .......................................................................................................... 167 3.3 Humanitarian Intervention .................................................................................. 180 3.3.1 The Legal Stay to Intervention .................................................................... 180 3.3.2 The Will to Intervene ................................................................................... 182 3.3.3 The Failure of Existing Mechanisms ........................................................... 186 v 3.3.4 The Dangers of Unfettered Interventionism and What Just War Might Offer .............................................................................................................................. 195 3.3.4.1 Just Cause in Humanitarian Intervention ........................................ 205 3.3.4.2 Right Intent and Reasonable Chance of Success in Humanitarian Intervention ....................................................................................................... 210 3.3.4.3 Proper Authority in Humanitarian Intervention .............................. 216