Palestinians arrive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah after fleeing an Israeli ground and air offensive in Khan Younis on January 29.
Fatima Shbair/AP
How can violence be viewed as ethical? Carlo Bordoni’s new book helps us understand why societies go to war and how they justify it.
Palestinians tend to the wounded after an Israeli strike hit a building next to Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Jan. 10, 2024.
AP Photo/Adel Hana
Just-war theory insists that civilians are not legitimate targets. However, civilian immunity does not provide blanket protection from harm.
Two men speak in the backyard of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, Ukraine, March 2, 2022.
AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda
A decision-making process that relies on intuitive feelings rather than careful deliberation invites a host of biases that make bad decisions and disproportional consequences far more likely.
Can a Czech soldier justify assassinating a Nazi leader when he knows that it could lead to thousands of innocent citizens being murdered in revenge? If so, how?
Candles outside the Medecins sans Frontieres HQ in Geneva
Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Bombing a hospital and killing doctors and wounded or sick persons may seem to be an obvious war crime. But the reality of both the law and the facts is significantly more complicated.
Under certain conditions, war may be morally permissible, or even necessary.
EPA/Said Yusuf Warsame
Political leaders frequently invoke Just War Theory to ground their explanations of why they are waging war against another state and how they plan to do so. What are the key components of this moral position?