How do we frame decisions to use or abstain from military force? Who should do the killing? Do we need new paradigms to guide the use of force? And what does “victory” mean in contemporary conflict? 

In many ways, these are timeless questions. But they should be revisited in light of changing circumstances in the twenty-first century. The post–Cold War, post-9/11 world is one of contested and fragmented sovereignty: contested because the norm of territorial integrity has shed some of its absolute nature, fragmented because some states do not control all of their territory and cannot defeat violent groups operating within their borders. Humanitarian intervention, preventive war, and just war are all framing mechanisms aimed at convincing domestic and international audiences to go to war—or not, as well as to decide who is justified in legally and ethically killing. The international group of scholars assembled in this book critically examine these frameworks to ask if they are flawed, and if so, how they can be improved. Finally, the volume contemplates what all the killing and dying is for if victory ultimately proves elusive.

Daniel R. Brunstetter is associate professor of political science at the University of California–Irvine and author of Tensions of Modernity: Las Casas and His Legacy in the French Enlightenment. 

Jean-Vincent Holeindre is professor of political science at University Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas and Scientific Director of Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l'Ecole Militaire (IRSEM). He is the author of La ruse et la force: Une autre histoire de la stratégie.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Ethics of War and Peace in a World of Contested and Fragmented SovereigntyDaniel R. Brunstetter and Jean-Vincent Holeindre

Part I. What Frames Decisions to Intervene?1. Assessing (and Learning from) the Record of Humanitarian Intervention in the Post–Cold War EraAidan Hehir

2. Recognition Theory in Humanitarian InterventionThomas Lindemann and Alex Giacomelli

3. The Moral Justification for Military InterventionNigel Biggar

4. Making the World Safe for Preventive Force: India, South Korea, and the US PrecedentKerstin Fisk and Jennifer M. Ramos

5. France and the American Drone Precedent: A Consequentialist Response to a Polemical CritiqueJean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer

Part II. Who Should do the Fighting- And Who, Consequently, Bears The Risk of Dying?

6. Pragmatism, the Just War Tradition, and an Ethical Approach to Private Military and Security CompaniesDeborah Avant

7. A Certain Idea of Grandeur: French Military Interventionism and Postcolonial ResponsibilityJean-Vincent Holeindre

8. The Signs of the Times: Classical Just War Thinking and Timing, and the Struggle Against JihadistsJohn Kelsay

9. Balancing Security, Risk, and Uncertainty in a World of Contested and Fragmented SovereigntyJohn R. Emery

Part III. Do We Need New Ethical Frameworks?

10. Drones, Honor, and Fragmented Sovereignty: The Impact of New and Emerging Technology on the Warrior’s CodeShannon E. French, Victoria Sisk, and Caroline Bass

11. The Purview of State-Sponsored Violence: Law Enforcement, Just War, and the Ethics of Limited ForceDaniel R. Brunstetter

12. Contesting Sovereignty: Human Security as a New Justification for War?Frédéric Ramel

Part IV. Is Victory Really Enough?13. Jus Post Bellum, Fractured Sovereignty, and the Limits of Postwar RehabilitationBrian Orend

14. After Disneyland: The (Hollow) Victory of Just WarCian O’Driscoll

Conclusion: Toward the Future of the Ethics of War and PeaceDaniel R. Brunstetter and Jean-Vincent Holeindre

List of Contributors Index