New Wars — Old Ethics

Abstract

The emergence of “new wars” in the second half of the twentieth century has changed the conventional paradigm for thinking about military conflicts and called into question the relevance of what previous theorists have offered. However, the most useful approach to the analysis of war is based on the widely accepted conceptual framework of the theory of just war, which is itself grounded in analytical ethics. The interpretations of just war theory by Michael Walzer, Nick Fotion, Brian Orend and Jeff McMahan are central to an ethical understanding of war, but they are of only limited value for considering the topic of “new wars,” which meanwhile are in constant flux. Philosophical thinking on these matters is failing keep pace with the transformation of the object it is considering. War is becoming a media phenomenon, a subject for futuristic speculation, and a routine reality for a number of countries and regions. It is losing its clear spatial and temporal contours, and although we are gaining greater control over its management and increasing the variety of forms that military conflicts take, we are losing control over the overall situation. War should be now seen as a complex phenomenon of social reality that demands a revision of the outdated and limited ethical supports that have been provided for this “necessary evil.” Military conflicts are among the images of modernity that must be apprehended in all their complexity.