Mutually Unjust Wars

EDUARDO RIVERA LÓPEZ; ALEJANDRO CHEHTMAN

Conferencia; Philosophisches Kolloqium; 2019

Institut für Philosophie, Universität Humboldt zu Berlin

According to contemporary just war theory waging a just war is a difficult matter -it requires that a belligerent fulfill a number of stringent conditions such as just cause, proportionality, and necessity, among others. Failing to fulfill any of them would render a war unjust. It is therefore surprising that contemporary just war theorists always assume a picture in which one belligerent fights a just war, while the other fights an unjust war. There has been no philosophical work on wars that are unjust from both sides. The fact that mutually unjust wars exist seems fairly obvious. However, we argue that there is a difficult conceptual puzzle at the core of this type of situation that has remained unnoticed. This article sorts out this puzzle and advances the view that there are different types of mutually unjust wars. These findings indicate that we need to deeply re-assess the way in which ad bellum considerations impact on in bello rules. Taking this agenda seriously provides for a richer, subtler framework to assess morally permissible behavior in war and brings contemporary just war theory in a more fruitful dialogue with current debates on war in political science, international relations and international law.