ETHICS & WAR

Introduction Human beings have been fighting each other since prehistoric times, and people have been discussing the rights and wrongs of it for almost as long. War is bad The Ethics of War starts by assuming that war is a bad thing, and should be avoided if possible, but it recognises that there can be situations when war may be the lesser evil of several bad choices. War is a bad thing because it involves deliberately killing or injuring people, and this is a fundamental wrong - an abuse of the victims' human rights.

War Ethics The purpose of war ethics is to help decide what is right or wrong, both for individuals and countries, and to contribute to debates on public policy, and ultimately to government and individual action. War ethics also leads to the creation of formal codes of war (e.g. the Hague and Geneva conventions), the drafting and implementation of rules of engagement for soldiers, and in the punishment of soldiers and others for war crimes.

WAR INFORMATION WAR STATISTICS – http://wars.findthedata.com/ STATISTICS ON MILITARY SPENDING - http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/defence-primer/

Here are some long-standing traditions of war ethics: 1 - National Interest This doctrine, in the most extreme form, says that if a war is in a country's national interest then it is morally right for that country to go to war. This looks as if it's giving permission to powerful nations to invade any country that has resources they need, or that is harbouring terrorists that they want to capture. But in fact, considerations of ethics and justice still have a significant effect. If a country is seen to behave unjustly it creates great political problems for itself. Invading another country, even if it has something you want, may well produce more trouble than benefit.

2 - The Right of the Ruler 3 - Holy wars This says that the decision of the ruler of a state on whether to wage war is final, and there is no moral argument that can be used against it. This tradition is reflected in the phrase 'the divine right of kings', meaning that the ruler's actions carry with them God's support. While this may seem strange to modern thinking, it was supported by the Christian church during many periods of history, when the monarch was guided by the church in war decisions 3 - Holy wars Religious leaders have sometimes declared that there was a religious duty on believers to go to war. This idea appears often in the Bible and has been used to justify suicide bombing in recent times. Centuries ago it was the main justification given for the Crusades.