ABSTRACT

This book examines the importance of "military ethics" in the formulation and conduct of contemporary military strategy.

Clausewitz’s original analysis of war relegated ethics to the side-lines in favor of political realism, interpreting the proper use of military power solely to further the political goals of the state, whatever those may be. This book demonstrates how such single-minded focus no longer suffices to secure the interest of states, for whom the nature of warfare has evolved to favor strategies that hold combatants themselves to the highest moral and professional standards in their conduct of hostilities. Waging war has thus been transformed in a manner that moves beyond Clausewitz’s original conception, rendering political success wholly dependent upon the cultivation and exercise of discerning moral judgment by strategists and combatants in the field. This book utilizes a number of perspectives and case studies to demonstrate how ethics now plays a central role in strategy in modern armed conflict.

This book will be of much interest to students of just war, ethics, military strategy, and international relations.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|19 pages

On war (Zum Krieg)

chapter 2|16 pages

Inconvenient truths

chapter 3|10 pages

“This is not your father’s war”

chapter 4|14 pages

What is “just war discourse”?

chapter 5|12 pages

The principle of last resort

chapter 6|15 pages

The case for preventive war

chapter 7|15 pages

Jus ante and post bellum

chapter 8|21 pages

Advice and dissent

chapter 9|20 pages

Armed humanitarian intervention

chapter 10|12 pages

“Forgetful warriors”

chapter |4 pages

Conclusion

Moving beyond Clausewitz