Just and Unjust Wars. Prelude to Third Edition

Abstract

Michael Walzer´s book is one of the keys to understanding the resurgence of the Just War during the 1990´s. Through the use of the Gulf War as an example, the Prologue explains how the political or military decisions that lead to war constitute a moral dilemma with consequences not only for the combatants, but also for the civilian population, thus representing an issue that must be debated. Walzer takes on current issues such as the pacifist question and its consequences, the need to distinguish and to justify the Ius ad Bellum and Ius in Bello, and to explain that only a normative regulation for Just War will avoid the consideration for war as an unlimited resort.