ABSTRACT
Proponents of just war argue that disinterested principles of universal justice should motivate and inform a government's deliberations about whether and when to combat a foreign power. Moral principles should trump preoccupations with international power, prestige, money, or security. Just-war theorists therefore seek to clarify both: 1) the circumstances under which states are morally justified in going to war; and 2) the amounts and forms of violence that, once the battles commence, are morally acceptable.
