Jean Bethke Elshtain, John Paul Lederach, and Michael Orange — Justice and a Just War
On Being with Krista Tippett
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Introduction
When america wages war, the language used to justify that action is often the language of righteous cause. We are tapping into a 16 hundred year old tradition first formulated by saint augustine. The five basic criteria of just war theory translate as a set of questions which can be asked of any military action. Do we have just cause to make war? Do we have the proper authority to carry it out? Is this violence our recourse of last resort? Does it have a reasonable chance of success? And can we conduct warfare with proportionality, so that our means justify our ends? If war is to be just, every human effort must be made to limit civilian casualties to day.
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