What is "Just war"?

What I found most intriguing in the Hardt and Negri “Empire” reading was the discourse surrounding the traditional concept of “just war” and I tried to relate this concept within today’s society. According to Saint Augustine, in order for there to be “just war” the fight must be fought for the right reasons and it must be waged under rightful authority, the war is waged in order to establish peace.


In the reading it says, “These two traditional characters have reappeared in our postmodern world on the one hand war is reduced to the status of police action and on the other hand the new power that can legitimately exercise ethical functions through war is sacralised." I found this to be really insightful as I reflected on past political world events that have used the act of “just war” in justification for their action. In many cases today “just war” is no longer used as an act of defence or for battle to create peace, rather it is used to exercise and establish authority and power over another country. An example of this is when the United States felt there was need for “just war” in Iraq after 911 attacks on the Twin Towers. Iraq didn’t attack nor did they take any peace away from the United States. The president at the time said the reason for the invasion and attack against Iraq was because the country had amassed weapons of mass destruction, but many other unfriendly nations have weapons of mass destruction and there was no attack on them.


Americas “just war” was unjust and immoral for many reasons because the intention was to satisfy the business-related or political appetites of politicians and was not to restore peace but rather to harm, revenge and to dominate.