Just War theory

Carmola K (2005) The concept of proportionality old questions and new ambiguities. In Evans Mark (ed) Just war theory a reappraisal. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh,... 

Drugs as weapons and drones are just two of the very many types of weapons which are currently under engineering development, with potential for hugely deleterious effects on human wellbeing. Further analysis of the contribution of engineering to war and peace can begin by consideration of just war theory. 

Just war theory has been subject to strong criticism. For example, the theory may be viewed as institutionalising conflict assumptions, as it assumes a culture of conflict rather than seeking to promote a culture of peace. The very concept of a just war may be doubted, for armed conflict inevitably results in the death and injury of the innocent. The requirements represent a rather idealised state very different from the irrational political disputes that precede the start of wars and the chaotic conduct of wars. It has also been suggested that the very existence of a set of requirements of this sort makes war more likely, for they can be used speciously to justify war. For example, the doctrine may be used to provide justiflcation for pre-emptive war or even preventive war, where any danger is distant, perhaps no... 

A substantive recent consideration of the morality of war [16] which is strongly supportive of just war theory notes three features of contemporary war that are pertinent to the present analysis ... 

Whereas just war theory has been regarded historically as being directed at only the very highest levels of political and military leadership, responsibility is increasingly being devolved to lower levels politicians in general, civil servants, officers and ordinary service people . 

Recognition that war is one of the most vicious of human activities has led to the formulation of analyses that aim to limit its occurrence and extent, the best known of which is the theory of just war . The many formulations of this theory have subtle differences, but a representative account notes five requirements dealing with the decision to commence war (jus ad helium) [15] (i) there must be a just cause (such as to repel an aggressor) (ii) there must be a just intent (such as to restore peace and justice) (iii) war must be a last resort, every possibility of peaceful settlement having been exhausted (iv) the declaration of war must be by a legitimate authority (v) there must be a good prospect of success. There are two further requirements for the conduct of war (jus in hello) (vi) the innocent (civilian non-combatants) must not be directly attacked (acts should be discriminate) (vii) the means used must be in proportion to the end in view. It is usually made clear that all of these conditions must be met for war to be considered just. Recent accounts also suggest that it is important to consider the likelihood of justice after the war (jus post helium). 

Just after the First World War in 1923, Bronsted and Bjerrum in Denmark and Lowry in Great Britain jointly put forward a more acceptable and satisfactory theory of acids and bases which is devoid of objections earlier raised in Arrhenius definition. 

The aims of protein purification, up until the 1940s, were simply academic. To then, even the basic facts of protein structure were not fully appreciated, and pure proteins were needed just to study structure and test the rival theories of the pre-DNA days. During the Second World War, an acute need for blood proteins led to development of the Cohn fractionation procedure for purification of albumin and other proteins from serum (Cohn et al., 1946). This was the inception of large-scale protein purifications for commercial purposes Cohn fractionation continues to be used to this day. 

With the aid of this theory it is explained that just as in coloured substances the introduction of some auxochromic groups changes the colour of the substances, so in the war gases the presence of certain autotoxes can alter the type of biological action. Thus, for example, halogen introduced into the hydrocyanic acid molecule reduces the toxicity of the toxophor, —CN, and confers on the product lachrymatory properties. 

On the basis of work done in the years just before World War II, Deijaguin and Landau [26] were able to explain in 1941 many of the complex phenomena involved in aggregative stability on the basis of forces of interaction between colloidal particles, namely the van der Waals-London forces of attraction and the electrostatic forces of repulsion. In the meantime, as a result of theoretical investigations and calculations performed in the years 1940-1944 and without the benefit of much of the literature that appeared during the war years, Verwey and Overbeek [7] formulated a theory of stability of lyophobic colloids and published it as a book in 1948. Because their... 

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