The State of Just War Theory Today

Abstract

Despite the importance of just war theory for Christian reflection on war, it has had at best a discontiguous life in Christian history. Rather than enjoying sustained attention and import, the just war tradition has been characterized by peaks of interest and valleys of neglect. Briefly, we can trace the major peaks across the fourth century with Augustine, the thirteenth century with Aquinas, and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the work of Hugo Grotius, and the Spanish theologians of the University of Salamanca, Francisco de Vitoria, and Francisco Suarez. From this last period until about the mid-twentieth century, just war theory largely remained dormant, with little significant development and minimal engagement.1 That said, the last five decades have witnessed a surge in just-war research. The Cold War, the Viemam War, and the two Gulf wars (1991 and 2003) have all contributed to renewed interest in just war theory. This is not to say that the theory enjoys any more consensus now than it engendered in the past. If anything, interest in nonviolence and pacifism, which increased as much as (if not more than) interest in just war theory, has reinvigorated debates about interpretation and application of the jus ad bellum (war decision-making) and jus in bello (war-fighting) criteria that characterize modern just war theory.