Graduation Year
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Political Science
Major Professor
Susan Stoudinger Northcutt, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Carolyn DiPalma, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Michael Gibbons, Ph.D.
Keywords
peace, morality, ethics, feminism, war
Abstract
This paper studies the history of just war theory and critiques it from various feminist perspectives. Using a definition of war as inseparable from the system within which it is embedded, the paper contends that just war theory has been incorporated into the realist paradigm that predominates current political thought, making it susceptible to manipulation. Most importantly, this usurpation has shifted just war theory's focus from jus ad bellum to jus in bello considerations, seriously weakening its deterrent effects on war. The paper proposes its replacement with a just peace theory, discussing several existing frameworks and explaining the important part women are playing to achieve its principles. It concludes that although just war principles might still be helpful as a framework for limiting the worst excesses of war, current applications do not adequately meet the presumption against war and for peaceful settlement of disputes that the theory's originators envisioned. Just peace theory is an active theory that promotes practices leading to the reduction of violence in all arenas and at all levels, from fights in the schoolyard to ethnic conflicts and beyond, offering concrete examples that can strengthen the last resort criteria of just war theory.
Scholar Commons Citation
Malone, Naomi, "From Just War To Just Peace: Re-Visioning Just War Theory From A Feminist Perspective" (2004). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/1146
