Moores, Alexander E --- "Ethics and the Use of Force: Just War in Historical Perspective" [2012] UTasLawRw 21; (2012) 31(2) University of Tasmania Law Review 184

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Ethics and the Use of Force: Just War in Historical Perspective

James Turner Johnson

United States: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2011, pp 174, ISBN 9781409418573

James Turner Johnson’s Ethics and the Use of Force is a discussion on the concept of sovereign states relying on ethical justifications for war, particularly in the context of 21^st century conflict. The book makes specific mention of religious justification and how the emphasis on cultural attitudes in conflict has led to asymmetric warfare and difficulty in applying traditional international humanitarian law (‘IHL’). Turner is a strong advocate for strengthening the role of the state and equipping all nations with the capacity to reapply state-based symmetry to warfare in order to make applicable the traditional theories of the international law of armed conflict.

Ethics and the Use of Force is broken down into four sections. Part I, which is a significant proportion of the book, is dedicated to a historical overview of the moral traditions surrounding the use of armed conflict. Part II looks at the interconnectedness of traditional values and international law while Part III introduces political realist theory into the analysis. Finally, Part IV identifies present problems with the application of an ethical ‘just war’ justification. The attention Johnson gives to each section is indicative of what he believes to be the most important element of furthering a holistic appreciation for just war principles.

However, throughout the book, Johnson delves back to first principles and tries to isolate the moment that each theory or value was born. He does not take for granted that conventions exist, in fact omitting a detailed examination of customary international law principles, and traces all concepts back to the original historian or inaugural event. So focused is Johnson on the historical genesis of the concepts he explores, that he tends to miss, or merely pay lip service to, the nuanced developments that have occurred since the inception of just war theories and humanitarian law foundations. This is not inconsistent with his permeating message that history provides many of the data needed to deal with the problems of the present.

This Hegelian^[1] form of analysis unfortunately leads to Ethics and the Use of Force reading more like a brief history of religious conflict and its imprint on contemporary society rather than an explication of legal precedents and practices. Only a small section of the text is reserved for present day application. While this may be disappointing to those expecting a comprehensive legal analysis of the dual concepts of jus in bello (the law that governs the mode and method by which war is fought) and jus ad bellum (the law relating to justifications and reasons for instigation of war), the text meets the burden established by the title and does put just war in a historical perspective.

One of the main advantages of the text is, being such a recent publication, it attempts to explain some of the little understood elements of fundamentalist Islamic culture that lead to jihad and a Huntington-style clash of civilizations^[2] in modern conflicts. Ethics and the Use of Force provides a welcome insight into traditional Islamic moral tenets from a position rarely given airtime in the dominant media discourse. Particularly, it seeks to clarify some of the incorrectly espoused interpretations of Islamic canon that are a constant source of bias, discrimination and racial vilification in contemporary politics.

Running tandem to this, there is also an engaging description of the role that Christianity plays in the global progression of just war concepts, and Johnson effectively critiques, as he does with Islam, some of the misconceptions relating to how traditional doctrine shapes modern views. The focus on deep historical foundations allows him to provide a wide-ranging comparison between cultures, and examine how other scholars and historians have interpreted the norms of those cultures in differing ways. Ethics and the Use of Force successfully highlights the fact that almost all opponents of armed conflict agree that there are certain circumstances – depending on one’s interpretation of morality –where force is justified.

In his concluding statements, Johnson identifies four contemporary issues that are important to resolve in order for the concept of just war to be developed into the future. Broadly, these are: a need to reassess sovereignty, official indoctrination of the responsibility to protect (‘R2P’), re-establishing enforced non-combatant immunity, and properly defining initiatives aimed at restoration of peace. It is in these statements that the practical benefit of Johnson’s analysis is evident, and the messages that readers will take away from these points would be applicable to academics and politicians alike. It is a shame that more of the book is not dedicated to developing these four points in the context of earlier chapters, in fact a whole volume could be written using these four points as the main dissecting tools, but as a lasting point they are very effective and persuasive.

No doubt readers of Johnson’s other work will find a greater context for much of the information contained in this volume, in particular the concluding statements on the application of a conceptual shift in just war thinking. Ethics and the Use of Force is a self-confessed compilation of Johnson’s long and detailed history as a just war scholar, acting primarily as a revised account of his current reflections on previous titles. This would no doubt be invaluable to those who have followed Johnson’s analysis, but results in a concision that might leave some with gaps in their understanding. Readers should be encouraged to do some background research on the substantive points and then use this text to supplement their knowledge within a historical contextual basis.

Despite the above criticisms, sections of the book prove very interesting and would certainly be engaging for scholars of Middle-Eastern history and philosophy. Other parts provide an insight into how it is actually non-legal principles that are preventing the prevailing law from succeeding in contemporary conflict. Johnson argues, in an openly pessimistic way, that the current and historical conventions do not translate successfully to modern paradigms. He believes that action must be taken to remove the anomaly of non-state actors from the equation before traditional methodology can be accurately applied. There is no question that Ethics and the Use of Force is well researched and comprehensive in its historical accounts. For the right audience, such as those looking to discover the earliest foundations for IHL and just war concepts, this text will provide fascinating insight.

Alexander E Moores^[∗]

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^[1] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction, Reason in History (translated from the German edition of Johannes Hoffmeister from Hegel papers assembled by H B Nisbet) (Cambridge University Press, 1975).

^[2] Samuel P Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (Simon & Schuster, 1996).

^[∗] Fourth year BA-LLB student at the University of Tasmania, and member of the Editorial Board of the University of Tasmania Law Review for 2012.