PS 2BB3 (2010/11) Lecture 4: Is, or can, war be just?

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Lecture 4

Monday January 24, 2011

PEACE ST 2BB3: Introduction to the Study of War

Dr Colin Salter, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

Is, or can, war be just?Questioning War?

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Outline

Just war theory

What isjust, and how is it constructed?

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Recap

Potential conflicts for 2011

Ideology

The struggle for hegemony

Disaster capitalism

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Just war theory

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Just war theory

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Just war theory

jus ad bellum jus in bello

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Geneva Convention

1864, 1906, 1931, & 1949

International law standard for the treatment ofvictims of war

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Hague Convention

1899, 1907

Creation of an international court for artibitraton

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I think its important for us to sit back and think not justabout the Gulf War, not just about the Vietnam War, notjust this or that war, but to think about the problem ofwar, of ust and un ust war.

Howard Zinn (2002)

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One does not make wars less likely by formulating rulesof warfare. War cannot be humanized. It can only beabolished.

Albert Einstein, in Howard Zinn (2002)

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Green Zone

Paul Greengrass (2010)

Reasons for the invasionand occupation of Iraq

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What counts as just?

The construction of victims

Often the attention solicited for the cruelties veiled womenabroad endure seemed primarily to veil the realities ofBushs anti-feminism or anti-womanism at home.

Alyson Cole (2008)

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Dr George Tiller

Womens Health Care

Services

Murdered May 31, 2009

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As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will bebattlefields.

Leo Tolstoy

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When violence is deemed justified and its cause andproponents have become widely credible, the seeds ofpower have been sewn.

Miriam Cooke (1996)

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Summary

Just war doctrine

What is just?

How this is

constructed

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Citations & further reading

David P. Barash & Charles P. Webel (2009) Peace and Conflict Studies, 2nd Edition, Thousand Oaks,California: Sage Publications.

Alyson Cole (2008) The other v-word: the politics of victimhood fuelling George W. Bushs warmachine inRobin Riley, Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Minnie Bruce Pratt (Eds.) Feminism and War:confronting U.S. Imperialism, London: Zed Books.

Anonymous (undated) Britches Story,Animal Liberation Front. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/Actions-USA/BritchesStory.htm

Miriam Cooke (1996) Women and the War System, London: University of California Press.

Stewart Beattie (2010) Tomorrow, When the War Began [Film], Paramount Pictures.

Nigel Downer (2009) The Ethics of War and Peace, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Amy Fitzgerald, Linda Kalof & Thomas Dietz (2009) Slaughterhouses and Increased Crime Rates: AnEmpirical Analysis of Spillover from The Jungle into the Surrounding Community, Organization andEnvironment, 22: 158-184/

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Citations & further reading

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001) Israeli Settlements and International Law, 20 May.http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Israeli+Settlements+and+International+Law.htm

Lisa Kemmerer (undated) ;Teaching Eco-Justice through Just War Theory, EcoJustice Review.http://www.ecojusticeeducation.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=46

John Marsden (1993) Tomorrow, When the War Began, Pan MacMillan.

Ed Pilkington (2009) For years anti-abortionists tried to stop Doctor Tiller. Finally a bullet did, TheGUardian, June 1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/01/us-doctor-tiller-killing-abortions

Riverbend (2005) Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq, New York: Feminist Press.

Various (2001)Monkeywrenching the New World Order[Audio CD], AK Press.

Howard Zinn (2002) Failure to Quit: Reflections on an Optimistic Historian, Cambridge: South End Press.

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Image sources

Pablo Picasso (1937) Guernica. Oil on canvas.

Unknown soldier in Iraq. Date unknown. sourced from http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/some-

interior-situational-sources-war--part-v/

Carlos Latuff (2003) War 2. Sourced from http://latuff2.deviantart.com/art/War-2-27832944

Crimethinc (undated) War on Terror/Drugs. http://www.crimethinc.com/tools/downloads/

USA Military (2007) Americas Army for PC. http://www.army.mil/-images/2007/12/04/11039/

Bud Korotzer / NLN (2009) A protester at the Union Square vigil expresses her view of Dr. Tiller. Reproduced

from http://dailyfreep.blogspot.com/2009/06/vigil-for-george-tiller-in-name-of-god.html

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PS 2BB3 (2010/11) Lecture 4: Is, or can, war be just?

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