ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the question of whether the people can be justified in deliberately targeting noncombatants under the extreme conditions of supreme emergency. It examines what constitutes a supreme emergency, whether it is a question of sheer numbers of lives to be saved or lost, or whether other conditions must obtain. The chapter argues that the people face a supreme emergency when they face what they could plausibly describe as a fate worse than death. It also examines the conception of supreme emergency, defined fundamentally in terms of the numbers of people involved, so that the people might more fully understand the way autonomy speaks on the subject. The chapter draws on how the conception of supreme emergency differs from the conception. It indicates the problems certain rights-based theories encounter when attempting to deal with supreme emergency. The chapter points out how the theory of autonomy avoids these problems.
