The wars in Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) have caused some German Theologians and Church Leaders to plead for a renewal of the classical doctrine of just war, may be modified into the form of the so-called "just and limited war"-theory. In contrast to this it is obvious that the concept of "just peace" bears the basic idea of contemporary Christian Peace Ethics. This idea should of course not be understood as a complete contradiction to the doctrine of just war since the criteria (e.g. ultima ratio) that are part of this doctrine, which were always intended to prevent and to limit warfare and violence, reappear within the concept of just peace. Therefore the doctrine of just peace is no synonym for pacifism. Two key arguments should be considered: (l) The doctrine of just peace names the goal und measure of all policy which is peace und peace alone. Never can war be the aim of policy, especially when policy is inspired by Christian faith. The doctrine of just war is likely to overlook this logical connection. (2) The notion "just peace" emphasizes the unity and interdependence of peace, law and justice. Peace can only grow where law and justice prosper and vice versa. So "just peace" is much more substantial than the term "just war", in any case another problem must be solved: it is not clear if the criteria included in both concepts have to be combined by the logical figure of a conjunction or a disjunction.

Enthalten in:
Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik; 2005/2 Kommentare, Studien, Berichte, Dokumentationen, Diskussionen, Rezensionen, Bibliographie (2005)

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Serie / Reihe: Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik

Personen: Huber, Wolfgang

Schlagwörter: Lehre Friedensethik Gerechter Krieg