Great article. You're dead right that if the postwar situation had been good no one wouldve cared about the other stuff.
Recent work in moral and political philosophy has also paid attention to issues of the duties of victorious nations towards the defeated. Of course that has been talked about since it was realized that the harsh punishment of Germany after WW1 was one of the causes of the rise of Hitler. But the recent work has gone so far as ro propose a third category of Just War principles, in addition to the traditional two of 'jus in bello' (just cause) and 'jus ad bellum' (just means), namely 'jus post bello'. See for example articles in the journal Philosophy and Public Affairs since 2003.
Thanks Simon, and indeed the jus post bello argument's fairly obvious - if you are going to leave a country in a worse state before you intervene, it's a pretty good argument against bothering.
As it happens, I'm not convinced our intervention into Kosovo has been for the good of anyone. Something akin to the partition of India seems to have occurred, with Kosovo a NATO colony in all but name, and Serbs/Albanians on the wrong side of the border between the two left as a persecuted minority.
Great article. You're dead right that if the postwar situation had been good no one wouldve cared about the other stuff.
ReplyDeleteRecent work in moral and political philosophy has also paid attention to issues of the duties of victorious nations towards the defeated. Of course that has been talked about since it was realized that the harsh punishment of Germany after WW1 was one of the causes of the rise of Hitler. But the recent work has gone so far as ro propose a third category of Just War principles, in addition to the traditional two of 'jus in bello' (just cause) and 'jus ad bellum' (just means), namely 'jus post bello'. See for example articles in the journal Philosophy and Public Affairs since 2003.
Thanks Simon, and indeed the jus post bello argument's fairly obvious - if you are going to leave a country in a worse state before you intervene, it's a pretty good argument against bothering.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, I'm not convinced our intervention into Kosovo has been for the good of anyone. Something akin to the partition of India seems to have occurred, with Kosovo a NATO colony in all but name, and Serbs/Albanians on the wrong side of the border between the two left as a persecuted minority.