Who Fought Just War? Walzer’s Theory and the War in the Former Yugoslavia

Abstract

Applying Walzer’s theory, this article analyzes the morality of the war in the former Yugoslavia. The main findings are the following: Serbia fought an unjust war during the entire 1991-99 period. Montenegro participated in the aggression on Croatia. Croatia also fought a just war on its own territory and on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, 1994 and 1995. However, Croatia fought an unjust war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo both fought just wars. The international community prosecuted just war crimes (Lat. jus in bello) and did not prosecute the very aggression (Lat. jus ad bellum).

Keywords

• just war
• aggression
• intervention
• war crimes
• yugoslavia
• jus ad bellum