The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have focused new attention on a perennial problem: how to end wars well. What ethical considerations should guide war's settlement and its aftermath? In cases of protracted conflicts, recurring war, failed or failing states, or genocide and war crimes, is there a framework for establishing an enduring peace that is pragmatic and moral? Just war thinking engages the difficult decisions of going to war and how war is fought. Just war theory must also take into account what happens after war ends, and the critical issues that follow: establishing an enduring order, employing political forms of justice, and cultivating collective forms of conciliation. Top thinkers in the field offer powerful contributions to our understanding of the vital issues associated with late- and post-conflict in tough, real-world, scenarios that range from the US Civil War to Afghanistan, the Middle East and the Congo.
Opens in a new window