Ethics and the Use of Force

Johnson (Rutgers U.) examines how just war ideas are used in contemporary debates over morality and the use of force, comparing contemporary understandings of just war to the historical just war traditions from which they have emerged (and diverged). He first looks at the religious roots of the just war tradition and Islamic thinking about jihad of the sword for what they reveal about contemporary use of just war and jihad concepts. He then turns to just war alone, discussing the interaction between just war thinking and international law on armed conflict, on the one hand, and political realism, on the other. Finally, he addresses contemporary issues within just war thinking: the idea that only defense justifies the use of armed force, the erosion of efforts at restraint within the context of contemporary armed conflict, and the question of the relation between the use of armed force and the pursuit of peace. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

James Turner Johnson is a Distinguished Professor, Department of Religion, Rutgers University-The State University of New Jersey, USA