Just War Theory Essay Research Paper Just

Just War Theory Essay, Research Paper

Just War Theory: NATO Action Against Serbia

Years of aggressive European empires have left the area known as the Balkans

in an almost constant flux. The nation of Yugoslavia, originated in 1918, first

became stable under the leadership of Dictator Josip Broz Tito who turned the

nation to communism in 1945. However, with Tito.s death in 1980, the country

dissolved into several smaller countries. Presently the former state of

Yugoslavia is comprised of the nations Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,

Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Within Serbia lies a region called Kosovo, an

area where over ninety percent of the citizens are ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo.s opposition to Serbian control of their region climaxed in January

1998, when a group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) manifested its

plans to unify Kosovo with the neighboring nation Albania. In response, the

present Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, ordered Serbian forces to police

the area. Within a short time, the Serbian forces also began to ethnically

cleanse Kosovo of all non-Serbs. The civil war escalated into an international

conflict in March 1999 when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

intervened by bombing Serbian targets.

According to the most basic tenets of just war doctrine, NATO.s

militaristic intervention with Serbia in the NATO Yugoslav War seems to be

appropriate. NATO.s actions appear to follow the principles of jus ad bellum

as well as jus in bella. Their goal also seems in accordance with other

documents of sustaining peace, such as the Charter of the United Nations.

However, a more detailed analysis might suggest otherwise: NATO.s intervention

was not justifiable in account that the war was more for Western interests than

ending the ethical genocide of the non-Serbs in Kosovo.

In the extreme realistic view of war, or .all.s fair. view, any action

is justifiable if it protects or advances the interests of the state acting.

This ideology strives on two tenets: .(1) that any act in war is justifiable

if it seems to serve the national interest, and (2) that rightness depends

solely on the ends sought rather than on methods used to obtain those ends..

The realistic view also follows utilitarian reasoning, which states .behavior

is ethical if it brings the greatest good to the greatest number.. In this

perspective, NATO.s interaction was most certainly just.

Contrastingly, another view of war is the extreme pacifist view, that is

avoiding conflict or any violent action in every situation. No action is ethical

if an individual is harmed. In this case, NATO.s intervention would certainly

have not been ethical.

However, the current just war doctrine is neither of these extremes.

Contemporary politics attempt to follow something in the middle..[T]here are

sets of ethical principles to consider when judging the morality of war. which

are .justice of war. or .jus ad bellum. and .justice in war. or .jus

in bella.. Together they are embodied as .just war tradition.. Several of

these modern just war theory tenets are expressed in the UN Charter.

Article 33 states that any war must have a .just cause. :

The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger

the maintenance of international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a

solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial

settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means

of their own choice.

Article 39 exemplifies the necessity of nation-states to make all attempts at

restoring peace and security:

The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the

peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations,

or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to

maintain or restore international peace and security.

The UN Charter stresses that war is a last resort. In fact, the document goes

on to describe war as an act of self-defense. .The principle of last resort

suggests that states should exhaust all peaceful means of resolving disputes

before resorting to military force, a condition that is easily met when a state

has been attacked and is merely engaging in self-defense.. These ideas are

expressed in Article 51:

Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual

or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the

United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to

maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the

exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the

Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and

responsibility of the Security Council u

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