EXTENDING JUST WAR THEORY: THE JUS AD BELLUM AND THE CAPABILITIES APPROACH TO ARMED CONFLICT

Abstract

As the nature of armed conflict continues to change, so the living ethical traditionthat is just war theory has to adapt to meet new challenges. This paper offers aproposal for extending just war theory by incorporating into its framework a humancapabilities-based ethic drawn from the work of Martha Nussbaum. This newapproach is analysed in the light of two important recent challenges to just wartheory: David Rodin’s critique of the principle of national defence, and the emergingdoctrine of humanitarian intervention. While the results of this analysis can only beconsidered to be preliminary, the authors argue that indications are thatsupplementing just war theory with Nussbaum’s human capabilities-based ethic, orsomething similar, could yield significant benefits for the ethical analysis ofcontemporary armed conflicts.