Do you consider yourself a realist? A pacifist? Or do you subscribe to just war theory? How does this impact your view of war crimes? Should there be crimes in war?
I do not consider myself a realist or a pacifist. I more subscribe to just war theory. The reason why I subscribe myself to just war theory is because I believe that there are legitimate wars and illegitimate wars. In the book Crime Without Borders: An Introduction to International Criminal Justice by Aaron Fichtelberg states, “War is usually a bad thing, but under certain circumstances, it may be justified or even obligatory” (Fichtelberg, 2008, pg. 112). In chapter six it described certain laws and articles that can justify countries or states to initialize or join in a war.
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One reason why a person would commit a war crime would be out of self-defense. An example of this would be in the case of George Bush, when he sent military troops to invade Iraq. Many people believed that George Bush committed a war crime, but in actuality, George Bush was following the orders of the United Nations Security Council to maintain international peace and security. There are also many reasons why soldiers commit war crimes as well. Some of those reasons would be due to superior orders defense and to past events that can impact their duty during war. The superior orders defense is when an individual soldier carries out orders that was requested by his superior or commander. In order for a soldier to use the superior orders defense one must comply with what the Military Court of Appeals ruled which states, “The acts of subordinate done in compliance with an unlawful order given him by his superior are excused and impose no criminal liability upon him unless the superior’s order is one which a man of ordinary sense and understanding would, under the circumstances, know to be unlawful, or if the order in questions is actually known to the accused to be unlawful” ( Fichtelberg, 2008, pg.131). A prime example of both reasons would be the case of My Lai.
3. Consider that members of the International Committee of Red Cross witness atrocities and even events that unfold in "death camps." Describe the pros and cons of the neutrality of this organization. In your opinion, should the ICRC remain
justified for a man to wage war if the war is for the common good or for the good of those who he is fighting for. But if the one whom he is fighting
Overall, there will always be droughts whether during war it is best to be pacifist or anti-pacifist. We can forecast that it is best to be anti-pacifist during any war that we may be faced with. This is what’s best because talk about pacifist will always aid the enemy in various ways from encouraging them, making us easy targets, and the preparation of it. We have to be aware that sometimes war is the only answer to defeat evil and establish peace. Before people start judging how bad war is and inhumane they should consider how many evil people we have gotten rid of before they were able to do more harm. It will always be up to the people weather or not they should be pacifist or anti pacifist during a war but we can conclude that pacifism will always aid the
Engaging in a self-defensive war, having been attacked by another country. Stage 4 of Kohlberg’s moral development, I believe, would be reason for engaging in war. Stage 4 is where the need for social order and respect of the justice system is developed (Williams & Arrigo, 2012). By being attacked from another country, our social order has been compromised and justice would be to defend our way of life. c.
Pacifism covers an array of views and there are many subcategories of pacifism, some of which I will cover, but the main definition of the word pacifism is the opposition to war and/or violence. Perhaps the most famous use of the word pacifism is found in the “Sermon on the Mount”, where Jesus claims the “peacemakers” are blessed. In this passage, the Greek word eirenopoios is translated into Latin as pacifici, which means those who work for peace. One common and simple argument for pacifism among religious groups or god fearing people is the argument that god’s revealed words says, through the bible, “Thou shalt not kill.”
Jus a bellum, the right to go to war, explicitly describes how a nation-state should conduct itself before preparing for war. There are seven sub-categories within Jus a bellum: Just Cause, Comparative Justice, Competent Authority, Right Intention, Profitability of Success, Last Resort, and Proportionality. Just Cause is explained as needing to have a
When it comes to any war, soldiers are placed in dangerous situations based on the orders given to them. They are forced to make quick decisions, usually out of their control, to defend their country against its said enemy. The act of killing is in no way ethical, but when done under the circumstances of war, military duty and survival, the wrongness of it can be debated. Consequently, the act of not killing can be unethical as well, since the outcome can be the sacrifice of a fellow comrade. The process of ethical reasoning cannot be used when faced with these kinds of decision because soldiers of war are unable to see all sides of the story, making it impossible to weigh the outcomes.
The Just war theory maintains that war may be justified if fought only in certain circumstances, and only if certain restrictions are applied to the way in which war is fought. The theory that was first propounded by St Augustine of Hippo and St Ambrose of Milan ( 4th and 5th centuries AD) attempts to clarify two fundamental questions: ‘when is it right to fight?’ and ‘How should war be fought?’. Whereas Pacifists are people mainly Christians who reject the use of violence and the deliberate killing of civilians but claims that peace is intrinsically good and ought to be upheld either as a duty and that war can never be justifiable. However, Realists agree that, due to the
The morality of soldiers and the purpose of war are tied also to the truth the soldiers must tell themselves in order to participate in the gruesome and random killing which is falsely justified
There are, however, various categories of ‘pacifist’. A ‘total pacifist’ is someone who completely avoids violence and believes it can never be justified, not even in self-defence or to protect others – this they see as the only morally correct view of war. A relative pacifist is someone who may use violence in certain situations but who supports disarmament. They are discriminating about WW1 but agree that WW2 had to be fought. Nuclear pacifists believe that conventional weapons are acceptable as a last resort if war is inevitable, as it is, but nuclear
Pacifism is the broad belief that war and violence are unethical and that disputes should be settled with nonviolence. It is divided into three main sections: absolute pacifism, conditional pacifism, and selective pacifism. The different branches of pacifism support its effectiveness as a foreign policy because they provide different ways for nations to incorporate pacifism into their foreign policy. It gives nations the freedom to choose how they want to include peace without being restricted to one branch. For example, absolute pacifism is probably not an effective principle to dictate foreign policy, but the fact that there are other forms, such as selective and conditional, makes pacifism more effective as a foreign policy.
If someone threatens your life and you have time to deliberate and act, what are you most likely to do? Hunt the person down and kill them as quickly as possible? No, such an action would be considered immoral. There is no justifiable reason to assume that pacifistic alternatives won't work. To justify war is not simply to justify killing in such a situation, but also to kill many innocent people in the process of doing so.
The first argument is that war involves mass killings and is unethical. This is a very true statement as it is a known fact that the death tolls of countries involved in war increase tremendously. War, according to the definition stated above, involves the use of weapons, used when proceeding to conquer a piece of land or overthrow the leader(s) of the land. Due to this, many soldiers who fight against the
First point in differentiate between Pacifism and Militarism is in term of ideological oriented. In pacifism, their ideology is they belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved. Here means the Pacifism is opposition to war and violence in making decision. The words of Pacifism are a related to the term of ahimsa (to do no harm) which is a core philosophy in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Whereas, Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests (New Oxford American, 2007). It may also imply the glorification of the ideals of a professional military class and the
During the 20th century America has been involved in many conflicts that have led to war or the taking up of arms against other humans and nations. Although the vast majority of Americans have blindly accepted these actions throughout the century, more and more people are seeing war as morally wrong. Reasons for this epiphany are based off of a variety of things and encompass many other aspects related to war and killing examples include: due to moral and ethical principles, objection to war due to strong religious beliefs, the objection to violence due to the same ideals above, objection to the government's use of force, and the objection to the use of weapons of mass destruction. Being a conscientious objector is fairly uncommon in the United States military but there are those who have served have identified as one.
There must be a just cause when resorting to war. This can imply either self-defence actions or be fought in order to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of aggression.