Idealist and Realist Aspirations for Just Peace

Abstract

This PhD thesis analyzes the following three ethical questions: 1) When and how, if at all, is it reasonable to use military force that potentially brings suffering and destruction to land and property, body and mind? 2) How do contemporary ideologies argue for the use of military force and are their arguments reasonable? 3) How have responsible political actors argued for the use of military force in contemporary conflicts and have their arguments been reasonable? The thesis develops an ethic of military force within the framework of a global ethic of just peace. It analyzes in depth predominant ideologies and the political arguments behind the Iraq war (2003) and the intervention in Kosovo (1999). The thesis argues that just peace is a significant realist and idealist global ethical ideology, and there is no other political strategy to achieve just peace than by practicing it