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Journal of Military Ethics

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Editor's Introduction
Alex J. Bellamy a
a
University of Queensland, Australia

Online Publication Date: 01 January 2007

To cite this Article: Bellamy, Alex J. (2007) 'Editor's Introduction', Journal of Military
Ethics, 6:2, 89 - 90
To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/15027570701436866
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15027570701436866

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Vol. 6, No. 2, 89
90, 2007

INTRODUCTION

Editor’s Introduction
It is thirty years since the first publication of Michael Walzer’s classic book,
Just and Unjust Wars. For many scholars, particularly those coming to
questions of ethics and war from backgrounds in philosophy, history, politics,
and international relations, Just and Unjust Wars has been
and remains to
this day
the first port of call. Beyond academe, it is used to teach new
soldiers about the place and nature of ethics in their chosen profession, and
remains the book to which interested general readers first turn when the wars
they witness or see reported provoke troubling moral questions. It is not hard
to see why it has had such an impact. As a number of contributors to this
special issue note, it is a book that rewards careful re-reading, not least
because it steadfastly refuses to shy away from the hardest of dilemmas, even
when clear answers are difficult to give.
Of course, the world has changed since Walzer first penned Just and Unjust
Wars, partly prompted by disquiet with the Vietnam War. Whilst Clause-
witzian-style interstate war is not yet a thing of the past, as some
commentators have prematurely claimed, most wars are of a ‘new’ type,
involving the use of insurgency and counter-insurgency, terrorism and
counter-terrorism, the strategic abuse and murder of civilians, and hesitant
global attempts to stem it. It is part of the genius of Walzer that Just and
Unjust Wars not only has things to say about all of this, whilst so much else
that was written thirty years ago has fallen into anachronism, but it actually
remains our benchmark and our starting point. To give just a few examples of
how Just and Unjust Wars continues to shape debate, in recent times there has
been an outpouring of work on the idea of supreme emergencies and whether
the threat posed by al-Qaeda constitutes such a case; the question of what
sorts of regimes shock ‘the conscience of mankind’ and deserve violent
overthrow has driven debate not only in the academy, but also in coffee
houses and pubs, parliaments and international assemblies; and how we
should treat prisoners of war, and who gets to be labelled as such, has vexed
many a lawyer, ethicist, and lay-person. All of these issues were raised by
Walzer thirty years ago, and the language we use to argue and debate them
today is, in no small way, shaped by this landmark book.
Nonetheless, contrary to popular belief and despite the myriad ethical
dilemmas that confront the modern world, the Cold War has given way to a
more peaceful world. According to the 2006 Human Security Report, the
number, frequency, and duration of wars has steadily declined. What is more,
the lethality of war is also in decline. To date, there has been no exhaustive
empirical study as to why this might be, but it would be churlish to assume
that the diffusion of and growing consensus around basic just war-type ideas
have not played a significant role. In particular, one thinks of the core human
1502-7570 Print/1502-7589 Online/07/020089
2 # 2007 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/15027570701436866
 90 Editorial
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rights-based ideas that lay at the heart of Just and Unjust Wars. It has been
quite some time since warriors and their political masters have felt secure
enough to openly defend the deliberate killing of non-combatants. The simple
reason, of course, is that today we all agree that such killing is wrong, and
Walzer’s book gives us a powerful basis for making this argument. Naturally,
having reached consensus about the rights, wrongs, and grey areas of war, the
challenge now is to figure out ways of making good on them.
The sheer breadth and depth of Walzer’s contribution to the field of
military ethics is made all too evident by the contributions that follow. From
the moral symmetry of soldiers to the interrogation of terrorist suspects, from
interplanetary supreme emergencies to political activism, the following
articles seek to shed light on, interrogate, and push Walzer’s ideas in a
number of different directions. That, thirty years on, such a wide range of
senior and junior academics from several different countries have come
together to discuss Walzer’s contribution is testament enough to its durability
and significance. There is no doubt that in a decade’s time, we will once again
come together to discuss what Just and Unjust Wars has to teach us.
It remains for me to thank the editors and editorial board of the Journal of
Military Ethics for supporting this project from the very beginning. Also, I
owe thanks to the contributors: Jean Bethke Elshtain, Jeff McMahan, Martin
Cook, Barrie Paskins, Asa Kasher, and Cian O’Driscoll. Finally, and most
importantly, I would like to thank Michael Walzer for supporting this project
and agreeing to add his own contribution.

Alex J. Bellamy
University of Queensland, Australia
Guest Editor