ABSTRACT
The Armed Non-State Actors (ANSA) analyzed in this study differed from past ANSAs, as they possessed modern weapons, military tactics and weapons of mass destruction, along with an aggressive willingness to engage states beyond their sanctuary state. Just War Theory has the capacity to serve as a framework for modern scenarios involving ANSA groups who challenge other states with an intention of promoting regional or international conflict. A significant challenge to Just War Theory is the ANSA’s lack of sovereign status, as fact limits the ANSA’s options for pursuing peaceful outcomes as preferred by Just War Theory literature. The study found that Just War Theory has the capacity to expand and retract as needed when considering appropriate moral use of force in novel circumstances that may include states that are failing or failed.
