Just War Theory By Barbara Mackinnon

The English term ‘war’ is an adaptation of the old German word ‘werran’, which means “to confuse or to cause confusion” (Mark). Wars have been around in the world ever since the time of ancient Mesopotamia around the time of 2300 BCE. In general, war is used to solve conflicts between two or more nations through the format of military battles. There are many people who oppose the use of war to solve conflicts, arguing that there are less violent ways to solve conflicts between nations. That being said however, there still has yet to be a compromise format that has been proven to successfully end conflicts between nations in a way that war has been able to do and for that reason, wars still do exist on Earth. Terrorism, on the other hand, is
As explained by Barbara MacKinnon, the two main principles that make up the Just War Theory are Jus ad Bellum, which is the justness of going to war and Jus in Bello, which is the justness in war (MacKinnon, p. 223). Each of these principles contains several subcategories that explain how they are able to argue war as a just action. Jus ad Bellum has four subcategories. These subcategories include just cause, proportionality, last resort, and right intention. Just Cause basically means “to use force against another nation, there must be a serious reason to justify” (MacKinnon, p. 223). Proportionality is essentially proving that “the probable good to be produced by the intervention must outweigh the likely evil that the war or use of force will cause” (MacKinnon, p. 224). Last Resort requires “that some other means be attempted, at least those that are judged to have a chance of achieving the goal specified by the just cause” (MacKinnon, p. 224). Right Intention means “that the intervention be always directed to the goal set by the cause and to the eventual goal of peace” (MacKinnon, p. 224). The second part of the Just War Theory is Jus in Bello. Jus in Bello is the portion of the Just War Theory that deals with just actions during the war. Jus in Bello also has two subcategories, which are proportionality and discrimination. Proportionality has essentially the same meaning as
If we take the time to examine each of the main wars in American history, it can be seen that the closest we have ever been to a truly just war was World War 2. Entering the war was truly a last resort for the United States, but due to the bombing at Pearl Harbor, we as a country could only respond in one way. This was a war in which we entered with the right intention of putting an end to the mass murdering of innocent victims that was going on overseas. We as a country had more to gain by entering the war than by sitting on the sidelines in a sense that we found it necessary to back our allies in order to keep them as just that, allies. These four pillars of just cause, proportionality, last resort, and right intention all put together justified America’s choice to enter in to World War 2. Although it is true that entering World War 2 qualified under the Just War Theory, this theory does still have its flaws. The main flaw, when considering how the theory dealt with the occurrences of World War 2 was the idea of last resort. If America had acted sooner, the attack on Pearl Harbor may have never happened and we would not have lost so many American lives. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was an act of terrorism meant to scare America away from entering the war. For this reason, the more beneficial useful concept might actually be justifiable war. According to Richard